Moscow Open under way

International Chess Festival Moscow Open 2007 The Third International Chess Festival Moscow Open 2007 is taking place in Moscow, Russia, from January 27th to February 4th, 2007. The number of participants is 820, a record for this event and for Russian tournaments in general. The participants are from 18 countries and include 60 grandmasters.

The International Chess Festival Moscow Open 2007 has started in Moscow on the 27th of January. It is already the third time when the championship is held in the Russian State Social University (RSSU). The main initiators are: Moscow Chess Federation and Moscow Sport Events Direction (Moscomsport).

The Russian State Social University (RSSU) where the annual chess event takes place

The main stage with flags from different paticipating nations

This year the Moscow Open 2007 has gathered more than 800 competitors and has become one of the biggest world chess competitions. The interest to this tournament among professionals can be explained in many instances because of solid prize fund – 2.5 million rubles (€ 73,000 or US $95,000). 1.5 million is provided by the organizators and 1 million – by RSSU.

A dance number from the opening ceremony

Medley of native Russian songs, culminating in "Life for the Tsar"

During the official opening the first deputy of Moscow Sport Committee Chairman Yuriy Nagornih welcomed the participants on behalf of mayor Yuriy Luzhkov. Vasiliy Zhukov, the head of RSSU, showed his conviction that in coming years chess would become the most favorite game among not only Russian residents but also among the country’s government. The main reason is that while playing chess, people learn to think logically and to make decisions with a great amount of responsibility.

The action in the main of the many playing halls

The championship consists of three groups: the main tournament “A”, group “B”, and children tournament “C” in which players under the age of 15 take part. The Swiss system of nine rounds is used in every group. The children tournament is divided into four age groups, separate for boys and girls. As it was last year, the “A” and “B” group participants were able to choose the number of days they will play in the tournament. The main tournament lasts nine days, but everyone can start 2-3 days later and play all missed games, not with classical but short-cut time controls.

Hall two, where the atmosphere is more relaxed, but still very intense

The sole leader has appeared on Moscow Open 2007 after the combining of all tournaments, Evgeny Najer. During the fifth round all participants played without divisions and with regular time control. In the group “A” the game between leaders Dmitriy Bocharov (Mejdurechensk) and Evgeny Najer (Moscow) ended on the 51st move by the black chess victory. Only two players from Moscow Alexander Riazantsev and Iaroslav Ulko who gained 4.5 points have lost 0.5 points to Najer.

A lot of television attention for the 2007 Moscow Open

Alisa Galiamova from Kazan, the World vice-champion, still has the best result among women. After the win in the game against Alexander Filippenko she has got 3.5 points. Alisa noticed that she hasn’t taken part in the tournaments recently, and this festival is considered by her as training before the Women European championship which will be held this April.

Moscow in Winter, which arrived during the last days of January

Viet Nguyen from Vietnam and Pogosian Georgy from Smolensk headed the Open “B” tournament. Both of them have 5 points. At the beginning of the tournament all players received the souvenirs with the festival symbols.

Top standings after five rounds

On the 4th of February the final results of the tournament will be known. Some extra information and current results can be found here:

• Official Moscow Open 2007 web site (Russian and English)
• Moscow Chess Federation web site (Russian)
• All games so far in zipped PGN

Photo reports

There is a special section with a lot of photos on the official web site. Normally we complain about missing captions, which is a terrible waste of good photo reports. This time our Russian colleagues have done an exceptional job of describing the contents of the pictures. The captions are imaginative, informative and humorous. And the English is adventurous – sometimes hilarious. But don't let that put you off. An extended visit to the round-by-round photo is definitely worth your while.

• Round one photo report (The beginning...)
• Round two photo report (Yesterday in a blue sitting-room)
• Round three photo report ("Hello" from Kramnik)
• Round four photo report (Frost and the sun...)
• Round five photo report (Nerve struggle)