Russian Team Championship and Leagues
The Russian Team Championship is taking place from 4th–10th April 2009.
The Higher League, one level below, and Women's League take place from 2nd–10th
April 2009.

The venue is the the district of Dagomys, which is 18 km from the centre
of the city of Sochi
Dagomys-Sochi is very close to the Russian border with Georgia. It is famous
for its botanical garden, tea plantations and factories, as well as for its
spectacular scenery, with the snow-capped peaks of the Caucasus Mountains overlooking
the gentle shores of the Black Sea. The resort has a temperate climate and boasts
many sanatoria and mineral baths.
The world financial crisis can also be felt in Russia, especially due to the
collapse of world oil prices. This affects the Team Championship, which has
been reduced to eight teams. But the teams are extremely well stocked with top
players, as are the second-level Higher League and the Women's League, which
play two extra rounds. Here are the details:
- 16th Russian Club Cup, Premier League:
seven rounds, 4th to 10th April, rate of play 100'/40 + 50'/20 + 10' + 30"
- 16th Russian Club Cup, Higher League:
nine rounds, 2nd to 10th April, rate of play 100'/40 + 50'/20 + 10' + 30"
- 10th Russian Team Championship, Women's League:
seven rounds, 2nd to 9th April, rate of play 90'/40 + 30' + 30"
Current standings
Premier League (two rounds)
1 |
TPS |
2.0 |
2 |
Tomsk-400 |
3.0 |
3 |
ShSM-64 |
3.0 |
4 |
Economist-SGSEU-1 |
3.0 |
5 |
Ural |
2.0 |
6 |
SPbChFed |
1.0 |
7 |
Eurasia-Logistic |
1.0 |
8 |
M.Chigorin CC |
0.0 |
|
Higher League (four rounds)
1 |
Polytechnik |
6.0 |
2 |
Yugra |
6.0 |
3 |
BelGU |
6.0 |
4 |
Perspektiva |
5.0 |
5 |
Economist-SGSEU-2 |
5.0 |
6 |
ZAO "OMZ" |
4.0 |
7 |
Etude-Contact |
4.0 |
8 |
Grifon |
2.0 |
9 |
SC MEPhI |
2.0 |
10 |
Gostinaya Dvorkovicha |
0.0 |
|
Women's League (four rounds)
1 |
Spartak |
8.0 |
2 |
Economist-SGSEU-1 |
6.0 |
3 |
AVS |
6.0 |
4 |
SPb Chess Fed |
5.0 |
5 |
AFGANVET-PetroDom |
4.0 |
6 |
Economist-SGSEU-2 |
2.0 |
7 |
ShSM |
1.0 |
8 |
M.Chigorin CC |
0.0 |
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Individual results from
Round
one – Round
two
List
of all players
|
Individual results from
R1
– R2
– R3
– R4
List
of all players
|
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The most important matches in round one of the Premier League were Ural vs
Tomsk-400 (all games were drawn some tremendous fights) and SPb Chess Fed vs
Economist SGSEU-1 (five games drawn, and Pavel Eljanov defeated Konstantin Sakaev
with black)

The view from the 21st floor of the Dagomys Hotel...

On the other side you can see snow-capped mountains

Vadim Zvjaginsev (2635), playing for Spb Chess Fed

Aleksander Galkin (2617), playing for Economist SGSEU-2

Vladimir Belov (2623) playing on board one for Eurasia-Logistic

IM Tatiana Vasilevich (UKR, 2399), AFGANVET-PetroDom

Concentrating for Spartak: the Kosintseva IM sisters, Tatiana (2522) and
Nadezhda (2491)

Financial crisis in Russian chess: Vladimir Malakhov (2709) has to play
alone and simultaneously for the Ural team on all six boards against Tomsk-400
(just kidding – his teammates happen all to be wandering around the hall).
The match was drawn 3-3.

WIM Valentina Solovjova, 2305, playing for M.Chigorin CC

IM Maksim Matlakov, 2533, playing in the Higher League for Grifon

The arbiters' team in green – with IA Igor Bolotinsky (the chief) in the
middle

IM Elisabeth Paehtz, Germany, 2459, Economist SGSEU-2

GM Xu Yuhua, China, 2479, playing for AVS

IM Anna Muzychuk, Slovenia, 2533, playing for AVS

WGM Natalija Pogonina, Russia, 2501, playing for AVS

WGM Tatiana Shadrina, Russia, 2431, playing for AVS

Sergei Movsesian, Slovakia, 2747, playinf for SPb Chess Fed

SPb captain Vladimir Bykov discusses strategy and a red
keychain thingy with board three player Nikita Vitiugov, 2688

Pavel Eljanov, Ukrain, 2693, playing for Economist SGSEU-1

European Champion Evgeny Tomashevsky, Russia, 2684, Economist SGSEU-1

Evgeny Bareev, Russia, 2636, playing for Ural

Vassily Ivanchuk, Ukraine, 2746, top board of TPS for many years

Valery Popov, Russia, 2570, playing for TPS

Top board of Economist SGSEU-1 (a bit of a sensation): Alexander Moiseenko,
Ukraine, 2690

Peter Svidler, Russia, 2726, leader of SPb Chess Fed team

Sunset in the Black Sea resort of Dagomys

Our photographer: WGM Irina Sudakova with her Canon 450D
It is as usual a pleasure to receive pictures from Irina and her colleague
Elena Mikheeva: they are always nicely colour balanced, well framed, sharp –
and properly captioned. None of the orange-and-yellow shots one so often sees,
with "soft" focus and the backs of players' heads. Irina actually
gets many of the players to face her directly – when's the last time you
looked Vassily Ivanchuk in the eyes? Since our original photographer, one GM
Sergey Tiviakov, has been asked to play for Tomsk, we can expect more good shots
from our "board two" photographer Irina Sudakova.
Video reports by Europe Echecs
Once again we have video reports, produced by GM Robert Fontaine for the French
magazine Europe Echecs
Links
The games are bing being broadcast live on the official web site and
a selection on the chess server Playchess.com.
If you are not a member you can download
the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access.
You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. |
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