Russian superfinal dates: December 18th to 30th. That is, starting the day after the closing ceremony in Khanty-Mansyisk. Note that it's not only a sprint if you reach the World Cup final, but the final 16, since they all keep playing every day to decide the candidates spots. Participant list not 100% confirmed, at least not to me. Five of the players on the list I've seen are still playing* in the World Cup. Svidler, Kramnik, Grischuk*, Dreev*, Morozevich, Bareev*, Khalifman, Motylev, Najer*, Volkov, Jakovenko, Rublevsky*. There's even a poll to pick the winner in the Ninja boards. Thanks to Atarov.
I doubt Kramnik would play. He's scared of losing rating points, so he reduces himself to playing only several tournaments a year. He's in Corus this january, so no, he's not going to be in the Russian Super Finals.
I am so sure Kramnik will play and show everyone who the real World Chess Champion is! :-)
Only Najer got eliminated. All others with an asterisk will play to the last day. If the players who play at World Cup dont play at Russian Super Final maybe they should change the format to a double round robin.
So it's bad timing. However, Ivanchuk has shown with his recent "chess marathon" that one can play professional chess at a high level, with few breaks. Those Russian players that have advanced to the Round of 16 have already demonstrated that they are in some sort of decent form. The greater risk for them is that a break would cause them to lose their momentum. From a more cynical viewpoint, most of the asterisked players (save Grischuk) are not credible threats to win the Russian Superfinal. So why miss out on a decent payday? Moreover, there can, and I suspect will, be a tacit arrangement among those who played in the World Cup to create an unofficial rest day when they are paired. Moreover, since about a third of the players in the field will be coming straight from Khanty-Mansyisk, it won't be a case of just one or two players who face such taxing circumstances. Grischuk, Dreev, Bareev, and Rublevsky will all be in the same boat.
In general, if there is any adverse effect from a lack of rest time and preparation, I would expect that some of the players may be less able to grind out long technical wins. However, I doubt that they will be much more prone to suffer losses.
Any news from Russian Superfinal? No websites yet?
Today is 16th. Any news? :-)
How about this:
http://www.russiachess.ru/mods.php?name=section&oid=1118&bid=31
Grischuk refuses to play and Najer is sick. They are being replaced by Zvjaginsev and Tomashevsky according to e3e5.com.
Grushik is complaining about the prize fund distribution, but I haven't found where the distribution is being described. Does anybody have details? If the prize fund distribution isn't good, I have to wonder if they are giving appearance fees to Kramnik, Svidler and Morozevich, but weren't to Grishuk, and that was the real reason he cancelled.
-George
The two players named above have in fact been replaced, as indicated. "64", Roshal's magazine, has posted the drawing of places and consequent 1st-round pairings, as follows:
1. Svidler
2. Motylev
3. Tomashevsky
4. Rublevsky
5. Yakovenko
6. Khalifman
7. Volkov
8. Zvjagintsev
9. Bareev
10. Morozevich
11. Dreev
12. Kramnik (no sick-out, this time!)
So, the first round tomorrow will be:
Svidler - Kramnik
Motylev - Dreev
Tomashevsky - Morozevich
Rublevsky - Bareev
Yakovenko - Zvjagintsev
Khalifman - Volkov
Wahoo!!
i wanna see these games!!! One of my all time favourites, Moro, is playing, and the website says "permission denied". Man what a bummer