Russian Team Championship and Leagues in Dagomys

by ChessBase
4/6/2009 – The world financial crisis has led to a reduction of the teams, but still there are plenty of high-calibre players to get excited about. The Premier League has the “crème de la crème”, the Higher League is also full of strong GMs, and the Women's League features some of the strongest player in the world. We bring you an extraordinary photo report by WGM Irina Sudakova and Elena Mikheeva.

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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

Individual results from
Round oneRound two
List of all players

Individual results from
R1R2R3R4
List of all players

Individual results from
R1R2R3R4
List of all players

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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