The mighty qualifier for the Russian Championship super-final in December is getting underway in Kazan. The sites are in Russian, news and games will trickle out to ChessBase and TWIC, and some helpful Russian-enabled readers always post here and in the message boards. (That's a link to a list of the players and discussion about the event.) This qualifier is a nine-round swiss with Bareev the top seed. The top seven finishers go to the superfinal, joined there by rating seeds (Svidler and Morozevich are the only ones mentioned on the official site, though Kramnik lists it on his schedule) and by Dreev and Grischuk, who are in the final automatically for finishing 2-3 last year. Kasparov is the defending champ but has retired and isn't factored in. That still leaves a few of the 14 final spots unfilled by my count.
I'm told on good authority that a Russian-American GM who played in last year's US championship wanted to play in Kazan, which apparently was okay with the Russians. But he was told that this would make him ineligible to play in the next US championship.
If you are having trouble with the cyrillic names at the nice ChessPro page on the event, here's a helpful key to some of the photos.
Alexander Khalifman = Russell Crowe in LA Confidential
(Bonus: Alexander Motylev as the teenage Crowe)
Sergey Rublevsky = John Candy in Stripes
Vadim Zvjaginsev = James Spader in Less Than Zero
Dmitrij Jakovenko = Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby
Konstantin Sakaev = Wayne Knight in Seinfeld
Is it Kamsky who wanted to play? I think it is too bad the USCF wouldn't let him play in the US Championships if he played in the Russian Championships! Why should it bother them if a US citizen gets to play in the Russian Champs?
Sakaev looks more like late Cristopher Reeve. Ibragimov is still a Russian citizen so of course Russian Chess Federation wouldn't object. Besides Kazan is Ibragimov's home city.
Heh, someone rather more recent an arrival than Kamsky, who has been here for around 20 years!
The idea behind these restrictions is to promote national pride and identity. Having players jump around in multiple championships and Olympiad teams tends toward the mercenary. Having a dozen players in both championships would be weird and damaging. Playing in the championship is a reward and a privilege.
This link seems to give English: http://www.russiachess.ru/mods.php?name=section&oid=1032&bid=31&
btw, has Moro ever won the Russian Championship? I know he lost out to Svidler on a tie break in 2003 or something, but coudnt actually get hold of a Moro bio, in spite of googling. Even got a link to the old classic MoC article "More, More Morozevich" which I duly read, wasting yet more time that I cannot afford at work, but no bio..
Sorry, :-(
This is not the place I know. Mig could you start another thread about what's happening to those in the Chess circle that are living in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi? One name that comes in mind for me is Frank Camaratta from the House of Staunton in Alabama.
Sounds like a good use for the message boards, canuck. I don't have any information to share. If you don't want to interrupt a thread, email is fine, thanks.
Isn't Kramnik going to be the third rating seed? He said on his site and in interviews that he plans to participate.
Based on "rather more recent an arrival", I guess Onischuk (sp?).
Mig,
Enjoy reading your articles all the time.But Alexander Khalifman = Russell Crowe? Does Khalifman throw telephones at hotel clerks too? :)
Nah, it's purely physical.
Maybe he learned self-control from his stint in the Russian Army?!
Peaces,
F
Vladislav Tkachiev is also french these days, isn't he?
Tkachiov was not Russian in the first place. He is from Kazakhstan and must have acquired Russian citizenship very recenty.
A friend of mine, a mathematician from St. Petersburg, Russia, helped to run a contest there, a popular annual event, a "math olympics" for students.
One year, this little kid no one knew came out of nowhere and beat everyone. That little kid was Alexander Khalifman!
When was it, before the Korean war?