Sergei Rublevsky Won Novosibirsk Savings Bank Rapid Cup |
| Written by Administrator | ||||
| Sunday, 18 November 2012 | ||||
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The Novosibirsk office of the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation (the largest bank in Russia) decided to hold its own rapid chess tournament featuring some of the best players in the country. Until recently Novosibirsk used to be the #3 city in Russia chess-wise and it is still #3 in temrs of population. Unfortunately, long distances are a killer for professional chess: the flight from Novosibirsk to Moscow is roughly 3000 kilometres, so traveling to tournaments is a pain. Hence, many strong players have moved to other Russian cities or even emigrated.  Don't be misled: Novosibirsk, the capital of Siberia, is covered in snow. This picture is from Wikipedia due to me having forgotten to take a photo of the building. At the entrance we were greeted by friendly personnel and guided to the playing zone Let's take a look at the first floor of the office:  Amateurs are playing casual chess  GM Vadim Zvyagintsev arrived to Novosibirsk to give a couple of simultaneous exhibitions - to kids, adults and even VIPs  Did Vadim start any of the games with his proprietary 1.e4 c5 2.Na3 ? I don't know.  Monitors are all over the place. It's easy to follow the games and nice to see interesting images of the participants. I have been to many Russian top-level tournaments, including a few Superfinals and Tal Memorials. The only event which is actively visited by the general public in Moscow is the World Blitz Chess Championship. During other tournaments most of the spectators are familiar faces. Initially I was afraid that the situation in Novosibirsk will be similar, especially given that the championship of the city is taking place right now. However, there were extremely many visitors, including (gasp!) pretty Siberian girls!  11 players of the tournament were taking turns to commentate on the games of their colleagues for the spectators. Ten GMs are playing, while GM Pavel Maletin (2621) is sharing his opinion about the positions on the boards  We, three Russian candidate masters, decided to play a 1 vs 2 friendly game at the chess cafe. It was very kind of the organizers to foresee that the visitors of the tournament need to buy food & drinks to keep following the games for hours. At many competitions all one can get is a cup of coffee and/or some tea. Sberbank was much more generous and hospitable in this respect. This photo is (C) of GM Dmitry Kryakvin, who along with other duties gave a simul to the public. You can follow his magnificent reports at RussiaChess.org Moving on to the second floor - let's finally meet the participants of the Cup:  Almost there, now let me turn left...  The tournament table was being diligently updated after every round  Found them!  Sanan Sjugirov (2670) - Ian Nepomniatchi (2761). The ratings are rapid. Ian was looking even more sleepy and bored than usual, while Sanan was behind on the clock in most of the games  Evgeny Bareev (2643) - Dmitry Andreikin (2723). A legendary player and captain of the Russian national chess teams vs. the young Russian Chess Champion  Ernesto Inarkiev (2640) vs. Dmitry Jakovenko (2714). Ernesto is attracing more female fans, while the European Chess Champion is better at scoring over the board  Vladimir Malakhov (2716) vs. Dmitry Bocharov (2514). Dmitry's rapid rating is misleading (it's a long story how he obtained it) - he has been the leader of Novosibirsk chess for the last few years and is currently rated FIDE 2620 in classical chess  Sergei Rublevsky (2688) vs. Pavel Smirnov (2625). The captain of the Russian national women's team is probably thinking: "Why are you here? You should be in Khanty-Mansyisk supporting Natalia Pogonina!" Final standings: 1. Rublevsky - 6.5/10 2-3. Bocharov, Jakovenko - 6 4-5. Malakhov, Nepomniatchi - 5.5 6. Bareev - 5 7-9. Smirnov, Andreikin, Sjugirov - 4.5 10. Inarkiev - 4 11. Maletin - 3 While being a critical-minded person, all I can say about this event is that it was a fantastic success - excellent organization, rich program, exciting tournament format, many spectators. I sincerely hope that Sberbank Rapid Cup will become a traditional event held every year. Official website 
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