Moscow Open 2008 under way

by ChessBase
2/4/2008 – The total prize fund is five million rubels, which translates to US $205,000 or close to 140,000 Euro. There are four groups, two open, one for women and one for children. Total number of participants: around 1000. Venue: Russian State Social University in Moscow. Dates: February 2nd to 10th. After two rounds only a few games are available, but a bunch of pictures by Eugene Atarov.

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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:

# Name Rating FED
1 Akopian Vladimir 2700 ARM
2 Inarkiev Ernesto 2681 RUS
3 Zvjaginsev Vadim 2677 RUS
4 Timofeev Artyom 2664 RUS
5 Amonatov Farrukh 2649 TJK
6 Tiviakov Sergei 2649 NED
7 Miroshnichenko Evgenij 2647 UKR
8 Areshchenko Alexander 2645 UKR
9 Motylev Alexander 2644 RUS
10 Jobava Baadur 2643 GEO
11 Moiseenko Alexander 2643 UKR
12 Sutovsky Emil 2642 ISR
13 Efimenko Zahar 2638 UKR
14 Naiditsch Arkadij 2638 GER
15 Najer Evgeniy 2634 RUS
16 Riazantsev Alexander 2628 RUS
 
17 Kobalia Mikhail 2623 RUS
18 Volkov Sergey 2623 RUS
19 Asrian Karen 2621 ARM
20 Aleksandrov Aleksej 2618 BLR
21 Guseinov Gadir 2617 AZE
22 Macieja Bartlomiej 2617 POL
23 Smirin Ilia 2616 ISR
24 Rodshtein Maxim 2614 ISR
25 Burmakin Vladimir 2611 RUS
26 Potkin Vladimir 2609 RUS
27 Vitiugov Nikita 2609 RUS
28 Fedorov Alexei 2607 BLR
29 Korotylev Alexey 2607 RUS
30 Kuzubov Yuriy 2606 UKR
31 Kaidanov Gregory S 2604 USA
32 Grachev Boris 2601 RUS
33 Bocharov Dmitry 2600 RUS


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


Germany's Elisabeth Pähtz and Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov


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


The winner of Moscow Open 2007, GM Eugeny Naer


The winner of the first Moscow Open, GM Farrukh Amonatov


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

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.


Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

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