The Russian 1st League Championship is probably stronger than most National Championships. It is incredible to see how many talents they are producing year after year:
Here are the round 5 leaders:
1-2. Vitiugov, Nikita g RUS 2608 4.0
1-2. Dreev, Alexey g RUS 2606 4.0
3-10. Amonatov, Farrukh g TJK 2598 3.5
3-10. Timofeev, Artyom g RUS 2650 3.5
3-10. Malakhov, Vladimir g RUS 2676 3.5
3-10. Rychagov, Andrey g RUS 2557 3.5
3-10. Zvjaginsev, Vadim g RUS 2658 3.5
3-10. Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2653 3.5
3-10. Grigoriants, Sergey g RUS 2591 3.5
3-10. Korotylev, Alexey g RUS 2616 3.5
11-24. Motylev, Alexander g RUS 2648 3.0
11-24. Novikov, Stanislav g RUS 2562 3.0
11-24. Sakaev, Konstantin g RUS 2634 3.0
11-24. Tregubov, Pavel V g RUS 2599 3.0
11-24. Zakhartsov, Viacheslav V g RUS 2559 3.0
11-24. Khismatullin, Denis g RUS 2566 3.0
11-24. Najer, Evgeniy g RUS 2623 3.0
11-24. Savchenko, Boris m RUS 2577 3.0
11-24. Tomashevsky, Evgeny g RUS 2654 3.0
11-24. Smirnov, Pavel g RUS 2636 3.0
11-24. Lysyj, Igor g RUS 2578 3.0
11-24. Popov, Ivan RUS m RUS 2524 3.0
11-24. Grachev, Boris g RUS 2601 3.0
11-24. Khairullin, Ildar g RUS 2567 3.0
Official website: http://www.russiachess.org/
They’re busy producing talents while the USCF have characters like Sam Sloan, Brenan Nierman and Brian Lafferty. What a country!
Can you please post advice on how to win with grace and lose with dignity? I need to promote this way of playing chess, are not sure exactly what to add to the phrase. Or point me to a place in this blog where I can read more about.
I’m sure Russia has some ‘interesting’ characters too. That shouldn’t stop a good player from working hard and doing well IF THEY WANT TO. If Americans prefer other pursuits, that’s OK too.