A Russian Story- Part 1

Don’t cry for me, Romania!

Photo by Maria Emelianova

To go, not to go, to go?

Moscow... World Rapid and Blitz Championships. I had promised myself to play this time. Watching the live transmission from St. Petersburg 2018 I cursed myself at least a dozen times for not being there; promised myself to play after finishing 8th at the European Blitz Championship in Monaco once again...

 „I must go then.”

„Dear Irina,/ Unfortunately...”- a great start of the answer I got from the Federation about my upcoming trip to Moscow... „They don’t believe in me, maybe I should not go after all...”. It is a bit funny how being young, one doesn’t believe in himself even though people keep telling him how capable and talented he is. A few years later though, things tend to change- no one seems to believe you’re capable of any progress, while your belief in yourself grows exponentially day by day... „F*** everyone, I will go!”.

A few clicks later, I was registered in the tournament and had a ticket.

There’s a sort of going back to my childhood every time I come to Russia. Why? Well, even though I was born in an independent Moldova, the Soviet reminiscences were still there. People had a hard time forgetting the horrors of War but also the little guilty pleasures borrowed from Russia stayed in Moldova until nowadays. Eating „sirniki” , „borodinski” bread and „borshi” are to this day my biggest pleasures. That’s why I always have mixed feelings coming here, it’s like being able to have all I wanted as a kid without the need of any adult consent!

Any guesses on what I did on my first evening after landing in Moscow? Had some „borshi” of course! With a full stomach and a warmed heart, I went to bed. Sleeping proved to be a difficult task though- uneasy thoughts were assaulting my brain „I will show them it was a mistake not to support my coming here!” , „What if I play badly?”, „Why do I always have to prove something?”, „Will there be a Romanian flag next to me tomorrow?”,  „Maybe it was better never to leave home...”

A little tear made it’s way to the pillow... 

They say Moscow does not believe in tears... Romania, do you?

(To be continued)

Perfect score

     The young Dinara Saduakassova (2312) of Kazakhstan (16 yo) is leading  the "F" tournament in Moscow with a prefect 3/3 score. She won in an aggressive style against Saulina Varvara (2272) (the most of us know her as Repina Varvara) yesterday. You can see the game here:

Dinara Saduakassova

     I met this charming young lady last year,in Arpil, at the World School Chess Championship, where I was taking photos for the official site. She won the title there in the U17 category. She had a 2209 rating then. Gaining 100 Elo points in a year is quite impressing!
     I wish her the best of luck!

Fortress you think?

     The lovely thing about Sundays is that you can do whatever you want- no classes, no exams, no work, so I've spent half of the day watching the games from Bundesliga and from Moscow Open. Couldn't help but be amazed by the win of Dmitrii Svetushkin (2612) over Yandemirov Valeri (2427).

Dmitrii Svetushkin

The position looked like a fortress for me and it might have been, until the unfortunate 29...Rf6 move, 29...Bf6 instead would have given white some headaches. Black didn't get any chances after this mistake and white exploded the position with an elegant knight sacrifice.

Moscow Open

Ian Nepomniachtchi- the nr.1 favourite and a student of  RSSU

    The traditional "Moscow Open" Chess Festival starts today. There are 6 tournaments organized by the Russian State Social University (RSSU). There's the "A" one- the strongest one- there are 17 players with a 2600+ Elo playing there and a total of 227(!) players:

1	GM	Nepomniachtchi Ian	RUS	2703	1
2	GM	Khismatullin Denis	RUS	2655
3	GM	Mamedov Rauf	AZE	2651	1
4	GM	Khairullin Ildar	RUS	2650
5	GM	Najer Evgeniy	RUS	2647	1
6	GM	Iturrizaga Eduardo	VEN	2646
7	GM	Krasenkow Michal	POL	2643
8	GM	Nyzhnyk Illya	UKR	2637
9	GM	Kokarev Dmitry	RUS	2635	1
10	GM	Demchenko Anton	RUS	2627	1
11	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	IND	2626
12	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	TJK	2625
13	GM	Guseinov Gadir	AZE	2623	1
14	GM	Smirnov Pavel	RUS	2618
15	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	IND	2612
16	GM	Rakhmanov Aleksandr	RUS	2612	1
17	GM	Svetushkin Dmitry	MDA	2612

     The "B" tournament is a strong Open destined for women, with 12 players with a 2300+ Elo:

Anastasia Bodnaruk

1	IM	Bodnaruk Anastasia	RUS	2430
2	WGM	Batsiashvili Nino	GEO	2407
3	WGM	Kovanova Baira	RUS	2387
4	IM	Ovod Evgenija	RUS	2361
5	WGM	Kashlinskaya Alina	RUS	2350
6	IM	Romanko Marina	RUS	2349
7	WGM	Karnaukhova Elmira	RUS	2348
8	WGM	Manakova Maria	SRB	2347
9	WGM	Charochkina Daria	RUS	2332
10	IM	Galojan Lilit	ARM	2326
11	WGM	Iljushina Olga	RUS	2317
12	WIM	Dolzhykova Kateryna	UKR	2309

   
     The "C" tournament is destined for players with an Elo below 2300. The "D" tournament is one for veterans, with Evgeny Sveshnikov as the favourite:

Evgeny Sveshnikov

1	GM	Sveshnikov Evgeny	LAT	2530
2		Kuindzhy Alexander	RUS	2406
3	IM	Mishuchkov Nikolai M.	RUS	2386
4	IM	Dragomarezkij Evgeni	RUS	2363
5	IM	Karasev Vladimir I	RUS	2359
6	WGM	Strutinskaya Galina N	RUS	2317
7	FM	Turikov Viktor	RUS	2266
8	IM	Kozlov Vladimir N	RUS	2262
9		Kalinin Anatoly	RUS	2257
10		Kachar Vladimir	RUS	2253

     The "E" tournament is actually nothing less than the World Cup among chess compositors.

Aleksandr Shimanov

     The "F" tournament is a round-robin among GM students, destined for young talented players,with Aleksandr Shimanov as the favourite:

Olga Girya

     The last but not the least important tournament is the one where I would have played if my session at the University wouldn't interfere- it's the "G" tournament- among WGM students, a round-robin as well, with Olga Girya as the nr.1 rating favourite:












     The 1st round starts today, at 4pm (Moscow time). The last 2 tournaments have live cover of all the games- so it will be interesting to watch.
      I wish good luck to all of my friends playing there and while there's still some time until the games start, I'd bettter return to studying for my exams :)