The 59th Top League Russian Championship is taking place on September 2-12, 2006 in Tomsk, Russia. The players must earn their spots through qualifying events or have ratings of 2575 and above based on the January 2006 rating list.
The format is Swiss system with time control of 40 / 100 – 20 / 50 – SD 10 with 30 seconds increment starting move 1. The prize fund is $100,000. The top 7 finishers will be seeded to the Russian Superfinal.
Here is the list of some of the top participants (58 players total):
Malakhov, Vladimir g RUS 2690, Najer, Evgeniy g RUS 2677, Zvjaginsev, Vadim g RUS 2675, Dreev, Alexey g RUS 2666, Motylev, Alexander g RUS 2662, Timofeev, Artyom g RUS 2657, Kobalia, Mikhail g RUS 2647, Tkachiev, Vladislav g FRA 2645, Alekseev, Evgeny g RUS 2644, Sakaev, Konstantin g RUS 2642, Volkov, Sergey g RUS 2628, Inarkiev, Ernesto g RUS 2625, Riazantsev, Alexander g RUS 2622, Khalifman, Alexander g RUS 2622, Korotylev, Alexey g RUS 2613, Lastin, Alexander g RUS 2613, Smirnov, Pavel g RUS 2613, Galkin, Alexander g RUS 2600, etc.
Here is the official website.
Here are some of the top standings:
1 (24th seed) GM Khismatullin, Denis 2568 – 3 / 3
2 (6th seed) GM Timofeev, Artyom 2657 – 2.5 /3
3 (15 seed) GM Smirnov, Pavel 2613 – 2.5 / 3
4 (18 seed) GM Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2594 – 2.5 / 3
Top woman is Kosteniuk, Alexandra (35th seed) 2534 – .5 / 3
Because she has an ego the size of Texas. She pretends to be an American because it helps her career.
She is not only the top woman, she is the only woman playing this tournament. I guess you forgot to tell that. Strange, hmmmmmmm