Moscow Open 2008 under way

The Fourth International Open Chess Festival «Moscow Open 2008» is taking place from the 2nd to the 10th of February 2008. The Festival consists of four tournaments: Open A, Tournament B, the Women's Open C and a Children Tournament D. Each of these tournaments is a nine-round Swiss.

Prize fund

The total guaranteed prize fund is 5,000,000 rubels = US $205,760. The Open A prize fund is 3,000,000 rubles = US $123,460.

The first prize for the Open A is 500,000 rubles = $20,580, for the Tournament B 150,000 rubles = $6,170, and for the Open C (Women) 150,000 rubles = $6,170. The Children's Tournament D (Tournament of School Champions) has a total prize fund of 300,000 rubles = $12,350, which will be distributed as follows: the winners in the different age groups (eight players in total) will be provided with free accommodation and meals at the European Cup in Greece; while the players coming in second and third places (16 players in total) will be provided with free plane tickets to Greece for participation in the European Cup of School Champions. There are many special prizes in each tournament for rating groups, veterans, "gentlemen" (born 1948-1967), juniors, boys, girls, etc.

The starting fees for the Open A range from nothing (for GMs rated 2600 and higher), 1000-1500 rb for GMs rated lower, 2000 rubel for IMs, 2,500 for untitled players, 3,500 for players rated under 2299 and 4,000 for players below 2150. In Tournament B FIDE rated players pay 2,500, unrated players 3,000 rubels. In the Women's Tournament C the fees range from 500 to 200 rubels.

Venue

The Festival «Moscow Open 2008» is taking place in the Russian State Social University (RSSU), 5, 4, V. Pika Street near the “Botanicheskiy sad” metro station. The RSSU is the only state higher educational establishment in Russia which centers on social studies. Over 100 000 students obtain higher education in 63 disciplines. More than 22,000 of them study in Moscow, the others are in over 50 branches of RSSU located in various regions of Russia and abroad.

Open A

The total number of participants in the Festival is close to 1000. The Open A section has almost 300 participants, Tournament B 350, Open C over 100 and Tournament D over 200. The strongest players in the Open A are:

Reports by Eugene Atarov

Russian chess journalist Evgeniy (Eugene) Atarov keeps telling us that he has quit chess reporting (he is now a consultant). But he keeps turning up at events, and in Moscow is producing extensive text and pictorial reports. Links to them are given at the bottom of the page. The pictures in this section are all by Eugene, the retired chess journalist and photographer.

The entire area around the University is covered with Moscow Open 2008 posters

Chess players are included on the Board of Celebrities of the University

A performance by a "Black and White" ballet group at the Opening Ceremony

A star of the Moscow Open: Ukrainian FM Ilya Nyznhyk, 11, is playing in the A Open

The games can begin (in the front is GM Baadur Jobava)

The winner of the of Aeroflot open, GM Emil Sutovsky of Israel

Top seed at the Moscow Open 2008: GM Vladimir Akopian of Armenia

German GM Arkadij Naiditsch started with a victory

Guest of honour and Chief Arbiter at the Moscow Open: Boris Spassky

Full results and standings are not available at the time of writing. Only a few games have been published so far. We will keep updating the PGN files and bring you standings as the tournament progresses.

Links

Official tournament site Reports by Eugene Atarov: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 All availabale games in PGN Download free PGN reader ChessBase Light A selection of games are being broadcast on Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use it to read, replay and analyse the PGN games.