Russian Superfinals in Ufa

by ChessBase
10/9/2021 – The Russian Superfinals are taking place on October 9-20. An open tournament and a women’s tournament are taking place concurrently. The open event, which includes Aleksandra Goryachkina (pictured), has Dmitry Andreikin, Nikita Vitiugov and Andrey Esipenko as the top seeds. Polina Shuvalova, Alina Kashlinskaya and Natalija Pogonina are the highest-rated players in the women’s section. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

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Goryachkina in the open tournament

Press release by the Chess Federation of Russia

On Friday, October 8, the Bashkortostan State M.V. Nesterov Art Museum saw the opening ceremony of the 74th Open and the 71st Women’s Russian Superfinals.

The ceremony was attended by the administration director of the Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Alexander Sidyakin, and the Executive Director of the Chess Federation of Russia, Mark Glukhovsky.

On behalf of the Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan Radiy Khabirov, Alexander Sidyakin greeted everyone present at the Russian Championships Superfinals in Ufa:

We are very fond of chess; as many as 17 thousand people play chess in our Republic. I would like to highlight that this sport is open to fans of all ages without any restrictions. Therefore, I would like to draw special attention Aleksandra Goryachkina’s participation in the open tournament. The 11 days of competition ahead of us will be filled with both bright and stressful moments. However, the battle is to the strong, and we will create conditions for fair play. We are proud to host these Superfinals in the capital city of Bashkortostan because in doing so we contribute to the popularization of chess in the Republic. I wish success to everyone!

Mark Glukhovsky spoke about the Chess in Museums program launched in 2012 and touched upon such famous world museums as the Tretyakov Gallery, Louvre, Russian Museum, as well as many regional ones. 

When we received a tournament bid application from Ufa, our first question was: “What about your museums?”. On arriving here, we realized it is a museum city. The Nesterov Museum is wonderful, but far from being the only one. Those who have free time to make a tour of the Ufa museums will definitely enjoy it.

The CFR Executive Director thanked all organisers and partners who made this tournament a reality.

Russian Chess Superfinals 2021

The opening ceremony

The chief arbiter of the competition, Boris Postovsky, carried out a drawing of lots procedure, with the participants getting the following starting numbers:

Open Tournament

1. Dmitry Andreikin, 2. Pavel Ponkratov, 3. Alexander Motylev, 4. Kirill Alekseenko, 5. Nikita Vitiugov, 6 Andrey Esipenko, 7. Aleksandr Rakhmanov, 8. Maksim Chigaev, 9. Alexandr Predke, 10. Vladimir Fedoseev, 11 Aleksandra Goryachkina, 12. Maxim Matlakov.

Women’s Tournament

1. Polina Shuvalova, 2. Olga Girya. 3. Marina Guseva, 4. Alina Kashlinskaya, 5. Leya Garifullina, 6. Alina Bivol, 7. Natalija Pogonina, 8. Daria Voit, 9. Alisa Galliamova, 10. Anastasia Bodnaruk, 11. Valentina Gunina, 12. Evgenija Ovod.

Game days: October 9-14 and 16-20. October 15 is a rest day. Games start at 15:00 p.m. Moscow time. 

Tournament venue: Nesterov Plaza Hotel (Verkhnetorgovaya Ploshchad, 2). 

The musical part was delivered by the laureate of international competitions and festivals, a pianist Ruslan Vorotnikov, an ensemble of kuraists, and an Honoured Artist of the Republic of Bashkortostan, a singer Alena Zavyalova.

After the opening ceremony, the participants made a tour of the museum. 

Nikita Vitiugov

Nikita Vitiugov

A press conference took place after the opening ceremony. The tournament participants Nikita Vitiugov and Polina Shuvalova, Executive Director of the CFR Mark Glukhovsky, President of the Chess Federation of the Republic of Bashkortostan Filyus Ishbulatov, and Executive Director of the Chess Federation of the Republic of Bashkortostan Amiryan Daukaev answered questions by journalists.

Polina Shuvalova: “Winning the Women's World Team Championship gave very vivid positive emotions, and I feel charged for the battle. Now I am ready for a new tournament and hope to come up with my best performance. I wish we had exciting fights over the board”. 

Nikita Vitiugov: “When going into a tournament of this calibre, one can only aim at the first place. That in about 15 Superfinals that I have been a participant of, this goal has yet to submit to me is a different story. However, this is likely what helps keep you motivated. Jokes aside, I just want to play in a strong tournament and show my best. Nowadays, every over-the-board competition is worth its weight in gold, so it is a great pleasure coming here, and I hope that everything will turn out well."

Mark Glukhovsky spoke in more detail about the Chess in Museums program and assessed the chances of the only woman to have made it to the of the Russian Championship Superfinal.

“When you step up to a new level of quality, you usually need to adapt first and then show everything that you are capable of,” he said. “Therefore, when speaking about Alexandra's victory in the open Superfinal, these winning prospects seem unobvious to me simply because this is a different level of play in terms of resistance you get from your opponents. Even though Alexandra has not yet been part of such challenging tournaments, she is a very young athlete making very fast progress, and is clearly one of the strongest chess players in the world. Her winning this event seems like a huge sensation to me, but her worthy performance is something that we can definitely expect”.

Natalija Pogonina

Natalija Pogonina

The Superfinals are co-organized by the Chess Federation of Russia, the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Republic of Bashkortostan, and the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation.

General partner of the CFR is PhosAgro

Partners: Aeroflot, Art Russe, Chess Federation of the Republic of Bashkortostan, and the Bashkortostan State M.V. Nesterov Art Museum.

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