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The ACP has staged a "Golden Blitz" Tournament in Moscow, on September 13 and 14, 2005. It consisted of a men's event with eight players: Alexander Grischuk, Evgeny Bareev, Alexander Motylev, Pavel Tregubov (all Russia), Nigel Short (UK), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine), Vlad Tkachiev (France), Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland); and a women's event with four participants: Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia), Zhu Chen (China), Almira Skripchenko (France), Irina Krush (USA). The format was knockout, with two games between pairs of contestants.
The event took place at the "Jazz Town Casino" in the centre of Moscow and was broadcast by the Russian TV channel "NTV + Sport". The tournament is sponsored by "IGP" (International Games Promotion) and organized by "V&V Profi", in association with the ACP.
The tournament has just ended and we have received the following information: the men's section was won by former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, who beat Evgeny Bareev in the final round, Tkachev in the semi-finals, and Grischuk in the quarter-finals. Bareev knocked out Tregubov in the semis and Short in the quarters. Tkachiev beat Motylev and Tregubov beat Pelletier in the quarter-finals.
In the women's section Alexandra Kosteniuk beat former world champion Zhu Chen in the first and Almira Skripchenko in the final round. Almira got to the finals by beating Irina Krush.
The tournament was held in the Casino Jazztown on Taganskaya Square, Moscow, a very nice venue The matches were played upstairs, spectators were downstairs
Almira Skripchenko vs Irina Krush in the first round of the women's section
Spectators downstairs are watching the games downstairs on big screens.
The winner was the newly crowned French women's champion Almira Skripchenko
Alexandra Kosteniuk vs Zhu Chen: 2-0. This was a revenge for the final of the
Women's World Chess Championship 2001 in Moscow, where Zhu beat Alexandra and
took the title.
The semi-finals between Vlad Tkachev and Ruslan Ponomariov
The two on the big screen. Ponomariov won convincingly
Tkachev being interviewed in the "studio" downstairs
Afterwards interviews for TV with the players: in the foreground Alexandra
being interviewed by Marina Makarycheva and in the background Almira by the
TV host.
The women's final between Alexander Kosteniuk and Almira Skripchenko (here
with Arbiter Igor Bolotinsky). Alexandra won the match 2-0.
The winner of the women's section of the Golden Blitz
The final between Evgeny Bareev and Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Ponomariov won the final 1.5 -0.5
The Golden Blitz champion Ruslan Ponomariov
A tandem match between the men's and women's finalists.
The women gained the advantage, but the men defended well and managed to get
a draw
Good friends and a great team: Alexandra and Almira
The winners: Ruslan Ponomariov, Ukraine, and Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russia
