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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:
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Premier League (two rounds)
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Higher League (four rounds)
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Women's League (four rounds)
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Individual results from |
Individual results from |
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.
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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