Winner of the Moscow Open Women’s Cup of Russia tournament Anastasia Bodnaruk told about her way to success to the correspondents of the tournament official website.

- Anastasia, disclose us the secret of your success in the recent tournament.

- The tournament didn’t go on well from the beginning: I lost my first game to the much weaker than me opponent. Of course, it didn’t inspire me with optimistic mood, but I managed to get together, find my manner of play and win all other games.

- What of your games of this tournament would you single out?

- I would mark two games – one against Daria Charochkina, in which I was, no doubt, lucky. 

For the second time Evgeni Dragomarezkij becomes a triumphant of the RSSU Veteran Cup – in 2015 he won it for the first time. The victory became a nice gift to the Moscow grandmaster for his 65th anniversary, which he celebrated in January. Evgeni Alekseevich is speaking of his way to success to the official website correspondents.

- Evgeni, hello! Tell us how was this tournament going on for you?

- Exceptionally successfully. I can’t remember the last time when I started the tournament with a 100% result after seven rounds (laughing). In general I tried to play with confidence. Sometimes I used my psychological zest – I was 15-20 minutes late, my opponents started to get nervous and became relaxed. However, several times in my life I punished myself – received a couple of technical losses for being late.

The 2018 Moscow Grand Prix for solving chess studies – A. Pochinok Memorial – was held in the last day of the RSSU 2018 Moscow Open Cup. 54 chess players were struggling for medals in this competition.

International master from Tver Evgeny Viktorov wins the competition. He solved 11 of 12 studies and scored 53 points. International master from Lithuania Satkus Vidmantas is a silver medalist. He showed the same result but let the victory go to the Russian due to the tie-breaks. Evgeny Fomichev (Nizhegorodskaya region) with 47 points wins a bronze medal. Tie-breaks allowed him outrun FIDE master from Moscow Anatoly Mukoseev.

The second edition of the RSSU Blind and Visually Impaired Fast Chess Cup was held on February 3-4 within the frames of the 2018 Moscow Open RSSU Cup program. The competitions were held according to the rules of the Swiss system with the participation of 15 chess players.

Stanislav Babarykin (Odintsovo, Moscow region) won the tournament. He scored 8 points in nine rounds and outran Evgeniy Suslov (Ivanov region) according to tie-breaks. Suslov became a silver medalist.

Alexey Komissarov from Moscow with 6,5 points won a bronze medal.  

More than 200 people went to the starting line of the final tournament included into the additional program of the 14th International RSSU 2018 Moscow Open Cup – the competitions in rapid chess. All interested were eligible to participate.

Grandmasters Grigory Oparin (Moscow) and Alexey Sarana (Moscow region) showed the best result after 11 rounds – both managed to score 9 points. Oparin was declared a winner due to better tie-breaks. Sarana wins a silver medal.

Six chess players scored 8,5 points. The best tie-breaks allowed grandmaster from Penza Dmitry Kokarev winning a bronze medal.

Final games of the 2018 Men’s Cup of Russia tournament turned out to be quite stormy. Israeli grandmaster Tamir Nabaty, who topped the tournament race from the first competition day, lost in a thrilling and full of mistakes game to young Moscow chess player Semen Lomasov. As a result the leader was changed, and Semen Lomasov found himself half a point ahead of his opponents.  In the last round a 15-year old Muscovite didn’t let his chance vanish and became a triumphant of the 2018 Moscow Open by winning his game! Tamir Nabaty also won his game in the ninth round but he remained only second.

International master Semen Lomasov with a brilliant result – 8 of 9 points – celebrates victory of the 2018 Moscow Open Men’s Cup of Russia. Before the last round a 15-year old chess player was half a point ahead of his chasers, and he managed to win over FIDE master Maksim Samusenko (Tatarstan) in the last game, it provided him with the first place.

Tamir Nabaty (Israel) with half a point less is a silver medalist. In his last game he won over international master Vladimir Zakhartsov (Moscow).

International master Maksim Vavulin, FIDE master Nikita Afanasiev (both from Moscow) and grandmaster Artyom Timofeev (Kazan) shared the third place. Vavulin wins a bronze medal due to tie-breaks.

Igor Volkov (Crimea) wins the 2018 Moscow Open RSSU Amateur Cup. He grasped leadership before the last round and didn’t let it to anybody. He scored 8 of 9 points at finish. Marat Denishev (Moscow region) scored the same number of points but tie-breaks provided him with a silver medal. 

Alexey Evdokimov (Vladimir region) wins a bronze medal. He scored 7,5 points and remained half a point ahead of 16 chess players.

It should be added that the amateur tournament became the biggest in the number of participants for the whole history of the festival. 

Grandmaster Anastasia Bodnaruk achieved a victory in the 2018 Moscow Open Women’s Cup of Russia tournament. After a loss in the first round the titled chess player from St. Petersburg managed to win eight games in a row that allowed her to be one point ahead of her opponents.

Alina Kashlinskaya and Polina Shuvalova (both from Moscow), Marina Nechaeva (Moscow region) and Iulija Osmak (Ukraine) scored 7 points. Kashlinskaya wins a silver medal, and a bronze medal goes to Nechaeva due to tie-breaks.

Moscow international master Evgeni Dragomarezkij started the RSSU Veteran Cup with seven victories. One round to the end he was one point ahead of his closest chasers. He played in a draw with international master Alexandr Provotorov in the game of the last round and secured the first place with a brilliant result – 8 of 9 points.

International master Evgenij Kalegin (Ufa) remained half a point behind the leader and became a silver medalist. Six players with 6 points shared the third place: Alexandr Provotorov (Kaluga region), Gennady Tunik (Saratov region), Nikolai Mishuchkov (Leningrad region), Sergey Pozin (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous region - Yugra), Evgeny Sveshnikov (Chelyabinsk region) and Arkadi Vul (Moscow region). 

The RSSU Women’s Veteran Cup finished with the triumph of grandmaster Galina Strutinskaia. The victory over Larisa Khropova in the game of the last round allowed the chess player from Moscow scoring 7,5 points and breaking away from her opponents.

Grandmaster Elena Fatalibekova (Moscow) and international master Elena Sazonova (Tyumen) remained behind the winner half a step behind and shared the second and the third places. Tie-breaks secured Fatalibekova with a silver medal, and Sazonova – with a bronze medal.

FIDE Master Natalia Beliaeva (Moscow) with 5,5 points wins the first place in the 70+ age category.

Representatives of more than thirty countries play in the RSSU Mosow Open Cup. Today we were lucky to talk to international master Juan Carlos Guerrero, who arrived from distant Columbia.

- Juan Carlos, we are happy to see you in our press-center! Do you play in the tournament for the first time? What are your successes?

- I’ve been 4 times in Moscow, but it was long ago. I’m playing for the second time in your tournament after ten years! Now I’ve got 4 scored points, and I think it’s an average result.

- Does Moscow attract you?

- I love to play chess in your country! I love your weather, we don’t have any snow in Columbia (laughing). 

One round before the finish new sole leaders appeared in the main tournaments of the 14th International RSSU Cup, the 2018 Moscow Open – tournaments of the Men’s and Women’s Cups of Russia.

15-year old Muscovite Semen Lomasov with 7 points is leading in the Men’s competition. This round he won over the grandmaster from Israel Tamir Nabaty, who topped the tournament before. Nabaty and two Russians Vladimir Zakhartsov (Moscow) and Maksim Samusenko (Tatarstan) remain half a point behind the leader. In the final ninth round Lomasov will play white with Samusenko, and Nabaty will play also white with Zakhartsov.

Saturday, February 3 the RSSU assembly hall hosted the Ceremony Closing of the competitions for school children and students, which were ran in the course of nine days within the frames of the 2018 Moscow Open festival.

RSSU Rector, doctor of economics Natalya Pochinok, first Vice-President of the Chess Federation of Moscow Nikita Kim, World Vice-Champion Sergey Karyakin, Sberbank-AST Development Director Yulia Obalyaeva, Director of  the Department of the State Policy in the Sphere of Education of Children and the Youth by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Igor Mikheev, Director of the Department of the State Policy in the Sphere of Vocational Education and Training Inna Chernoskutova took part in the ceremony.

The 2018 School Champions’ Cup – O. Zhuravsky Memorial was held in the course of nine days. More than 850 chess players were struggling for the medals in four age categories. The names of the winners and medalists were announced on Saturday, February 3 in the RSSU assembly hall.

Jahandar Azadaliyev (Azerbaijan) tops the U9 Boys’ Group. He scored 8 points. Teimur Toktomushev (Ukraine), Ruslan Khabibullin and Bogdan Volynets (both from Tatarstan) scored 7,5 points. The tie-breaks provided Toktomushev with a silver medal, and Khabibullin with the bronze. 

Anna Shukhman (Orenburg region) became the triumphator of the tournament of the youngest girls – 8 points. Evelina Zavivaeva (Nizhegorodskaya region) and Sofia Mutina (St. Petersburg) scored half point less.

The National Student Chess League Championship was included into the program of the RSSU International Cup, Moscow Open for the third time. The competition was held in course of nine days in both individual and team events and finished on February 4.

Students of the Ural State Mining University (Ekaterinburg) won gold medals in the team event – David Parvyan and Anna Styazhkina. Together they scored 15 of possible 18 points. The team of the Lomonosov Moscow State University (Dmitriy Aleksandrovskiy, Svetlana Tishova) with 12 points won silver medals. Students of the Samara State Aerospace University (Alexey Mokshanov, Darya Makarova) also scored 12 points and won bronze medals, tie-breaks didn’t allow them to win silver medals.

The Sozvezdie Dobra charity fund has recently started to take care of three young talented chess players: these are Ilya Makoveev (Moscow region), Elizaveta Solozhenkina (St. Petersburg) and five-year old Misha Osipov (Moscow), famous for his participation in different shows. All of them are now playing in the 2018 Moscow Open. One of the days the kids together with their parents dropped in to the press-center to play a friendly game and to answer several questions.

Misha told that he likes to play in this tournament. Most of all he liked his game of the seventh round and in future he wants to become a famous grandmaster, like Magnus Carlsen.