Every year the Head Coach of the selected teams of Moscow grandmaster Alexander Zlochevsky closely follows the performance of leading chess players from Moscow in the RSSU Moscow Open Cup. Besides, Alexander Borisovich was a Director Executive of this tournament for several years. We couldn’t lose a chance and asked him several questions.

- Alexander Borisovich, you were one of the creators of the Moscow Open. What were the goals of this tournament initially?

- It was a lack of major chess tournaments in Moscow. And at that time in 2004 the idea to create a tournament for chess players from Moscow appeared. The chess body of the city – Sergey Smagin, Alexander Kostiev, Igor Glek and me – discussed: how to organize this complicated event?

The grandmaster from Israel Tamir Nabaty is the sole leader of the 2018 Moscow Open Men’s Cup of Russia. After the victory over Nikolai Shukh from Russia in the seventh round he has 6,5 scored points. Young Moscow chess players Nikita Afanasiev and Semen Lomasov are sharing the third place, they remain behind the leader at a half-step distance. Nine players scored 5,5 points.

There are three leaders in the Women’s Cup of Russia tournament two rounds before the finish: Dinara Dordzhieva (Moscow), Aydan Hojjatova (Azerbaijan) and Anastasia Bodnaruk (St. Petersburg) scored 6 points. 

Three rounds before the finish the 15-year-old international master from Moscow, reigning U14 World Champion Semen Lomasov is sharing the third place in the Moscow Open Men’s Cup of Russia tournament. After another victory in the sixth round he dropped in to the tournament press center and answered several questions.

- Hello, Semen! Let’s start with our favorite question: how many times did you take part in the Moscow Open?

- If to count children’s competitions (RSSU School Champions’ Cup – editorial remark) I’ve been playing since 2009. I won my first tournament. I participated in an amateur tournament for a couple of times, and since 2011 I’ve been playing in the main tournament of the Cup. 

Grandmaster from Israel Tamir Nabaty is a sole leader of the 2018 Moscow Open Cup of Russia tournament. Young chess players from Moscow Semen Lomasov and Nikita Afanasiev are literally upon his heels. Today Nikita is a hero of our traditional section.

Likewise in mountains one careless shout can lead to the fall of an avalanche, so as in the game – one careless move of the black led to the action of mechanisms of the initiative development from the side of an opponent. And besides the increase and development of the attack of the white was so quick and inevitable that the black king found itself under the snow drift in 10 moves!

The Russian State Social University will organize the live broadcast of the Award Ceremonies of winners and medalists of the 14th International RSSU Chess Cup, 2018 Moscow Open.

The Ceremony Closing of the RSSU Schoold Champions’ Cup – O. Zhuravsky Memorial and the National Student League Championship will be held Saturday, February 3 in the assembly hall of the RSSU main building. The ceremony will start at 15:30 Moscow time.

The Award Ceremony of the winners and medalists of the 14th International RSSU Chess Cup, 2018 Moscow Open (A, B, C, D1, D2 tournaments) will be held Sunday, February 4 in the assembly hall of the RSSU main building. 

The struggle for leadership in the 2018 Men’s and Women’s Cup of Russia tournaments is serious that of course provides fans with pleasure. However, the observer of our traditional section is a little bit dull. The games of the players of the leading group are notable for their fighting spirit but they are far from the ideals of beauty. The game of the sixth round between Egor Bykov and Nikita Matinian will return us back to the times when chess players liked to attack but categorically refused to defend.

In a good tradition of the XVIII century, the black offered a gambit sacrifice of a pawn on the fourth move, and then they lost a knight, keeping the king in the center. 

The registration of the RSSU Blitz Cup participants that will be held February 5 will be carried out on February 3&4 from 12:00 to 18:00 in the 321 room (building 8). Participants, who failed to pass the registration process within the set time limits, will not be allowed to the tournament.

It should be reminded that the RSSU Blitz Cup will be held within the frames of the additional program of the RSSU 2018 Moscow Open Cup during one day – February 5. All wishing to play can participate in the tournament, subject to a prepaid tournament fee. The competition will be played according to the Swiss system in 9 rounds. The games will start at 11:00. 

Three rounds to the end a sole leader appeared in the 2018 Moscow Open Women’s Cup of Russia event. It’s the winner of the higher league of the 2017 Championship of Russia Marina Nechaeva (Fryazino, Moscow region). She scored 5,5 points. Six chess players with half a point less are chasing the leader – these are Susanna Gaboyan (Armenia), Aydan Hojjatova (Azerbaijan), Anastasia Bodnaruk (St. Petersburg), Iulija Osmak (Ukraine), Dinara Dordzhieva and Elmira Mirzoeva (both from Moscow).

There are two leaders in the 2018 Moscow Open Men’s Cup of Russia event – they are Tamir Nabaty (Israel) and Nikolai Shukh (Saratov region), both scored 5,5 points. Six chess players scored 5 points.

Struggle in the National Student League Championship is going on in the Russian State Social University. Today the games of the seventh round were played.

Two rounds to the end the team of the Ural State Mining University (David Parvyan, Anna Styazhkina) is leading. Two teammates managed to score 11,5 of possible 14 points. The team of the Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism-1 (Kirill Kozionov, Alexandra Alieva) with 10,5 points is the second. The host team, representing the RSSU-1 (Bibek Thing, Darya Gorovenko) with 9,5 points is on the third place. The teams of the Lomonosov State University (Dmitriy Aleksandrovskiy, Svetlana Tishova) and the Samara State Aerospace University (Alexey Mokshanov, Darya Makarova) scored 9 points.

Two thirds of the distance are over in the National Student League Championship. The ranking favorite of the tournament, grandmaster from Moscow David Parvyan won over Alexey Mokshanov in the game of the round and became a sole leader of the competitions. Immediately after the game the chess player from the capital answered several questions.

- Hello, David! I believe, you play in the RSSU Moscow Open Cup not for the first time, right?

- Since 2008 I’ve never missed a single tournament. However, I played successfully only twice: first I obtained my first ranking status here, and then I fulfilled the standards for an international master title at the Cup of Russia event.

A real draw rain was pouring on the participants of the fifth round of the Men’s Cup of Russian tournament – only two effective games on the first ten boards. A game between Mikhail Mozharov and Nikolai Shukh is an obvious reflection of peaceful tendencies of the fifth game day.

Sometimes it happens. The opponents were struggling. They were improvising at the board (in other words didn’t play memorized computer variants), the time keeping records confirm it. They were playing almost without any mistakes that in our days means following the first computer line. And still this interesting game seems to be cold….

The main tournaments of the 14th International RSSU 2018 Moscow Open Cup have passed their equator. The international master from Moscow Evgeni Dragomarezkij is keeping a 100% result after five rounds in the veterans’ competitions. Gennady Tunik (Saratov), Alexandr Provotorov (Kaluga region) and Evgenij Kalegin (Ufa) are half a point behind the leader.

Elena Fatalibekova from Moscow is leading in the women’s veteran tournament, she scored 4,5 points. Elena Sazonova (Tyumen), Ramziya Samusenko (Tatarstan) and Larisa Khropova (Moscow) are half a step behind her.

There are no evident leaders in the Cup of Russia events so far.

2018 Moscow Grand Prix for solving chess studies – A. Pochinok Memorial will be held February 4, last day of the 14th International RSSU Moscow Open Cup. All wishing are invited to take part in the tournament!

Registration of participants will be held on Saturday, February 3 from 12:00 to 18:00 in the 321 room of the RSSU (building 8). Opening of the tournament will be held Sunday, February 4 at 10:00. The first round will be played from 10:15 to 11:45, the second – from 12:00 to 13:30.

The prize fund of the 2018 Moscow Grand Prix for solving chess studies is 100,000 rubles.

Monday, January 30 the International scientific conference “Chess in the Educational System” was held in the hall of the Russian State Social University Academic Council.

Rector of the Russian State Social University, Doctor of Science Natalya Pochinok, first Vice-President of the Moscow Chess Federation Nikita Kim and the oldest grandmaster Yury Averbakh opened the conference. Director of the RSSU International Center of the chess education Artem Akhmetov became a moderator of the event.

Natalya Pochinok was the first to take the floor. She stressed that nowadays the problem of the chess education is very complicated, she also said that a positive result of the universal education is a merit of all the people present at the event. This conference will contribute into a new level of the chess education promotion in Russia. R

After four rounds of the Moscow Open Men’s Cup of Russia event Tamir Nabaty (Israel), Boris Savchenko (Russia) and Nikolai Shukh (Russia) suffer no losses so far. Seven chess players with half a point less are chasing them. Creative work of the chasing group is represented in our traditional section. The game of the day between Ivan Bocharov and Alexej Gorbatov turned out to be instructive from the strategic point of view.

Nimzowitsch considered a knight with the combination of such qualities as flexibility and aggressiveness to be the best blocking piece. This game is a proof of the thesis of a great master of the positional game. Positioning cozy on the e3 blocking field, the white knight was conducting the actions of its army on the whole board. 

Grandmaster from Israel Tamir Nabaty started the 2018 Moscow Open Cup of Russia event with four victories that confirmed his status of the tournament ranking favorite. We addressed several questions to the leader.

- Tamir, is it your first visit to Moscow?

- Once I was in your capital for just short time.

- Do you like it here, did you have a chance to see the city?

- I have nice impressions of Moscow, however, I didn’t have a chance to see some sites yet. And it was also hard to get used to the climate – now it’s +20 in Israel. And still it will not influence my desire to make a city tour in Moscow as soon as I have a chance.

Two thirds of the distance is over in the RSSU School Champions’ Cup – O. Zhuravsky Memorial. Please be reminded that the competitions are held in four age groups in both boys’ and girls’ tournaments.

Pavel Boykov (Astrakhan region), Egor Koblov (Krasnodar region), Ruslan Khabibullin (Republic of Tatrstan), Teimur Toktomushev (Ukraine) and Jahandar Azadaliyev (Azerbaijan) scored 5,5 points in the U9 Boy’s tournament. Eight chess players with half a point less follow the leaders.

Anna Shukhman (Orenburg region) with 6 points grasped leadership in girls’ tournament of the same age category. 

Shogi competitions are traditionally included into the additional program of the International RSSU Moscow Open Cup. The first round, played as a combination of shogi + chess, was held on January 25&26, the second round – XVII Shogi tournament within the frames of the 2018 Moscow Open will be held on February 3&4.

The registration of participants will be held February 3 from 11:00 to 11:45. The first round tip-off time is 12:00. We invite all wishing to play!

Dmitry Rodin is ranked as a winner of the shogi + chess combination. He scored 5,5 points in 8 rounds. Vladimir Noskov with 5 points finished second, and Nadezhda Kharmunova with 4,5 points took the third place.