Monday, November 15, 2004
Russian Super Finals Rd 1
I was on a long vacation last week, enjoying not only playing with my brother's daughter, but also preparing to watch Russian Super finals :) How can anyone miss this one (even if that means missing a 2 yrs cutie's smile)!?
Russian heavy weights, Kasparov, Kramnik & Karpov usually do not play in their national championship, which, by the way, is one of the strongest events! In Russia, literally, you can find an IM-strength player in every house. It is a known thing that a Russian Candidate master is as strong as a FIDE IM. With its abundant Chess talent and more importantly, the excellent ambience which nurtures this Chess talent, it should not come as a surprise that Russia is the dominant Chess playing country. Russian Chess Federation head, Zhukov, announced last year that the winners of the 57th Russian championship @ St.Petersburg and Tomsk , along with top 7 Russian GMs (Kasparov, Kramnik, Svidler, Morozevich, Bareev, Karpov & Grischuk) would play in a super-final, finding a single Russian champion!
Kramnik & Karpov pulled out. The former producing a Doctor's letter saying he needs 2-3 months rest before any serious play and why the latter pulled out is still a mystery. To make a guess, I'd say Karpov would be at the bottom of the points table in this strong tournament if he played and he knew that :) If you think Kramnik's producing a doctor certificate reminds you of how we used to produce a proof for taking sick leave, back in the school, you are not alone! ;)
So, 11 players were confirmed for the Russian super-finals taking place from November 14th to November 27th.
First round pairings (Nov 15th)
Garry Kasparov (2813) - Evgeny Bareev (2715)
Alexander Motylev (2596) - Alexander Grischuk (2704)
Vladimir Epishin (2599) - Alexander Morozevich (2758)
Alexey Dreev(2698) - Artyom Timofeev (2611)
Vitaly Tseshkovsky (2577) - Peter Svidler (2735)
Korotylev bye.
Kasparov - Bareev
Kasparov started off well by beating Bareev in a rare variation of Caro-Kann. Motylev unfortunately under performed and Grischuk easily converted the advantage in to a full point. Morozevich in his game against Epishin, looked dominating in the early stage, but Epishin neatly unwound himself and secured a draw. Probably Moro missed many strong continuations, but I am sure we can learn a lot from Epishin's play. Dreev & Timofeev went for a draw. In his game against Svidler, Tsheshkovsky blundered in the 29th move and, needless to say, Svidler converted the advantage in to a full point.
The final standing after Rd 1
(Thx Chessbase)
So, who is playing who in the second round?
Round 2 pairings (Nov 16th)
Artyom Timofeev (2611) - Vitaly Tseshkovsky (2577)
Alexander Morozevich (2758) - Alexey Dreev (2698)
Alexander Grischuk (2704) - Vladimir Epishin(2599)
Evgeny Bareev (2715) - Alexander Motylev (2596)
Alexey Korotylev (2596) - Garry Kasparov (2813)
Svidler bye.
Garry has to beat Korotylev today to keep his ELO above 2800 and to shake off his rust! Lets see if the old lion can still roar as it used to :)
Russian heavy weights, Kasparov, Kramnik & Karpov usually do not play in their national championship, which, by the way, is one of the strongest events! In Russia, literally, you can find an IM-strength player in every house. It is a known thing that a Russian Candidate master is as strong as a FIDE IM. With its abundant Chess talent and more importantly, the excellent ambience which nurtures this Chess talent, it should not come as a surprise that Russia is the dominant Chess playing country. Russian Chess Federation head, Zhukov, announced last year that the winners of the 57th Russian championship @ St.Petersburg and Tomsk , along with top 7 Russian GMs (Kasparov, Kramnik, Svidler, Morozevich, Bareev, Karpov & Grischuk) would play in a super-final, finding a single Russian champion!
Kramnik & Karpov pulled out. The former producing a Doctor's letter saying he needs 2-3 months rest before any serious play and why the latter pulled out is still a mystery. To make a guess, I'd say Karpov would be at the bottom of the points table in this strong tournament if he played and he knew that :) If you think Kramnik's producing a doctor certificate reminds you of how we used to produce a proof for taking sick leave, back in the school, you are not alone! ;)
So, 11 players were confirmed for the Russian super-finals taking place from November 14th to November 27th.
First round pairings (Nov 15th)
Garry Kasparov (2813) - Evgeny Bareev (2715)
Alexander Motylev (2596) - Alexander Grischuk (2704)
Vladimir Epishin (2599) - Alexander Morozevich (2758)
Alexey Dreev(2698) - Artyom Timofeev (2611)
Vitaly Tseshkovsky (2577) - Peter Svidler (2735)
Korotylev bye.
Kasparov - Bareev
Kasparov started off well by beating Bareev in a rare variation of Caro-Kann. Motylev unfortunately under performed and Grischuk easily converted the advantage in to a full point. Morozevich in his game against Epishin, looked dominating in the early stage, but Epishin neatly unwound himself and secured a draw. Probably Moro missed many strong continuations, but I am sure we can learn a lot from Epishin's play. Dreev & Timofeev went for a draw. In his game against Svidler, Tsheshkovsky blundered in the 29th move and, needless to say, Svidler converted the advantage in to a full point.
The final standing after Rd 1
(Thx Chessbase)
So, who is playing who in the second round?
Round 2 pairings (Nov 16th)
Artyom Timofeev (2611) - Vitaly Tseshkovsky (2577)
Alexander Morozevich (2758) - Alexey Dreev (2698)
Alexander Grischuk (2704) - Vladimir Epishin(2599)
Evgeny Bareev (2715) - Alexander Motylev (2596)
Alexey Korotylev (2596) - Garry Kasparov (2813)
Svidler bye.
Garry has to beat Korotylev today to keep his ELO above 2800 and to shake off his rust! Lets see if the old lion can still roar as it used to :)
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