[Back from a short vacation, more mental than corporal. Taking a break from your computer is a vacation in itself these days.]
Top seed Evgeny Bareev won the 2005 Russian championship qualifier ahead of Alexander Khalifman on formula tiebreaks after they both finished with 6.5/9. Both winners scored very entertaining wins in the final round. A good source tells me that little is fixed about the December championship final. Most of the seeded players haven't confirmed yet. Morozevich and Svidler are prepping for San Luis.
Good for you, Mig! You've not to made the same mistake as chessbase.com : Bareev won the QUALIFIER, not the "58th Russian Individual Championship". Sic!
According to Kramnik's website he is going to play there in December. He also said that he will play in an interview.
I'm sad Alexandra Kosteniuk did not qualify for the super-final.Greetings from the Philippines!
SHREWDPINOY
Well, FYI everybody....Nigel Short has a new home!
http://closetgrandmaster.blogspot.com/
TCGM
According to www.chesspro.ru and the official site of russian chess federation, this event is 58th russian championship, which is a qualifier to the December's Superfinal. So, Mr. Bareev is the official russian champion!
But http://www.russiachess.ru/mods.php?name=section&oid=1032&bid=31& clearly says "Semifinal" and "The first 7 players will pass to the Super-final tournament of 58th Russian Individual Chess Championship".
There can't be two 58th championships can there? And can it really be the case that Bareev will only have the title for two months (unless he wins in December)? How was it last year?
Here are some puzzles from Evgeny's early games: http://www.wtharvey.com/bare.html
and some puzzles from Alexander's games http://www.wtharvey.com/khal.html
Hiya, Pinoy, I feel your pain, man. But Kosteniuk and Galliamova were "only" 2400-rated. As Speelman pointed out in his Guardian column, out of 66 players, 19 were over 2600, and HALF were over 2500. And these ain't "fake 2500s", either, like in Some Countries We Won't Mention - these are Nasty Buggers. I watched the girls' games live - they did their best; it was just too crushing.
And speaking of the Guardian - they deserve a MONSTROUS Hurrah! for rehiring Short. The chess world would be poorer without him - journalistically speaking. And I love their conceit of having him take an Editor from B-player to expert in 100 hours! This oughta be GOOD! (Maybe he can work on Kosteniuk next...)
(Umm, on second thought - he's married with a daughter. Maybe not.)
Only the English translation on the official site says "semi-final". The Russian text, which should be more trustworthy, does not call it a "semi-final" anywhere I've seen. It calls the championship the "58-го чемпионата России по шахматам среди мужчин, Высшая лига" which translates something like the 58th Russian Chess Championship (men), (top division). The rules do state it is a qualifier for the "суперфинал 58-го чемпионата России", which is the superfinal of the 58th championship of Russia.
So it sounds like it was the "top dvision" championship, but there will also be also be a "superfinal" championship.
-zhorik
Is chesspro.ru considered an "official site"? Here's from the second paragraph of their announcement that Bareev won the tournament.
Евгений еще никогда прежде не был первым в чемпионате России (пусть в Казани это была лишь «высшая лига», а чемпион определится в декабре – в Москве).
Evgeny has never before been first in the Championship of Russia (granted, Kazan was just the "Upper League", with the Champion being determined in December - in Moscow).
Probably the definitive word, from the site, I'd say.
Toodles,
F
Not to quibble, but Kosteniuk is/was not "only" 2400-rated. She's rated 2516. Even so, she was only the 51st seed (of 66), so she had no realistic chance of finishing in the top 7.
Something like this took place in 1940, where a regular USSR championship of about 20 was followed by an "absolute championship" with 6 top players.
It was an interesting read and discussion. Thanks for your efforts . I like to join your team.
http://book-villas.com/ski-holiday