FIDE President at 66th Moscow Blitz Championship

FIDE President at 66th Moscow Blitz Championship

The 66th Moscow Blitz Championship took place on the September 2nd at the summer grounds of the Strelka Architecture, Media and Design Institute.

During a picturesque opening ceremony the participants were welcomed by the World Chess Federation President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Head of the Moscow Physical Culture and Sports Department, Alexey Vorobiev and the Moscow Chess Federation President, Vladimir Palikhata.

President Ilyumzhinov gave the greetings of the participants of the Chess Olympiad which is currently taking place in Istanbul. He said that he was glad that the Moscow Government and the management of the Moscow Chess Federation give so much of their time and attention for chess. He also said that the previous day while driving through the city, he saw hundreds of chess lovers at chess boulevards. He said he believed that chess would become the most popular sport.

Mr. Vorobiev said that it was his pleasure to be present at this wonderful chess festival, the Moscow Blitz Championship. He said that in Luzhniki, which hosted a large sports event the previous day, where about 87 thousand people came, including lots of chess players and this was a very important fact. Mr. Vorobiev wished good luck to the Moscow Chess Federation in its further activities.

Mr. Palikhata said that this Championship was an event of great important for Moscow and its chess lovers. He said that they were aware that since 1946, for 66 years in a row, the Moscow Chess Federation had been organizing this event and they would try to continue this tradition. He said this was a wonderful event and holiday for all those who loved this great game. He also mentioned that the choice of the venue was not incidental as the Strelka Institute is a very fashionable get together place for young people in Moscow and in their programme, we promised to attract more young people and added more creativity this year.

The tournament was taking place for six hours in men, women, seniors (men and women), junior (boys and girls), media and amateur groups. Despite nasty weather conditions, good conditions of the venue allowed to organize the event on the highest level. One round before the end, Alexander Morozevich, one of the leading world’s Grandmasters, has become the winner, for the 6th time.

He grasped the leadership since the very start and did not allow anyone approach him, making 17 points out of 21. Morozevich received the Cup and “Gold” medal from the Moscow Department of Physical Culture and Sports. Vladimir Malakhov got silver, having two points less and Nikolay Chaadaev got bronze, with 14,5 points. 16 out of 22 participants are Grandmasters.

Karina Ambartsumova became Moscow women’s Champion. With 14 points in 19 rounds she came ahead of Olga Girya on additional criteria. Bronze was taken by Daria Charochkina who got 13,5 points.

In Junior tournament the winners are FM V. Tilicheev, S. Golubov and A. Geivondian. In girls section the winners are Olga Grigoryeva and Maya Tereshechkina.

In Senior Tournament, the winners are: GM Y. Balashov, IA A. Shvedchikov and FM O. Zilbert. Among women, WGM G. Strutinskaya became first with 100% result, followed by WGM E. Fatalibekov and WFM N. Kalashnikova.

In Journalists tournament the first was K. Kodinets (Chess leaf), then E. Klimets (Chess-news.ru), and then M. Orlinkov (site of a chess school Etude).

Additionally, a chess playing robot, created by K. Kosteniuk, who played this day a blitz simultaneous game at three boards. Messrs. Ilyumzhinov and Palikhata played a couple of games against it. Mr. Ilyumzhinov even had an idea to organize a chess robots tournament on the Mars. The FIDE President intends to offer this project to the NASA management, who he is meeting soon.

The prizes were awarded by V. Korol, President of Nashe Nasledie (Our heritage) Foundation, general sponsor of the tournament. She said that the Foundation thinks their duty to support such events and looks forward to continue their mutual cooperation in the future.

Organisers: Moscow Chess Federation, Moscow Sports Department

Partners: Our Heritage Foundation, Strelka Architecture, Media and Design Institute.

Informational sponsor: Vecherniaa Moskva newspaper