City of Novokuznetsk Gives Start to Russian Championships Higher League

The top seeds are Evgeniy Najer and Olga Badelka.

The Russian Championships Higher League has begun in Novokuznetsk. A welcome speech to the participants came from Alexander Tkachev, Executive Director of the Chess Federation of Russia, and Evgeny Bedarev, First Deputy Mayor of Novokuznetsk and Chairman of the Novokuznetsk Chess Federation's Board of Trustees.
 
The participant list in the open section is topped by Evgeniy Najer (2646), Ivan Popov (2627), David Paravyan (2612), Volodar Murzin (2612), Dmitry Kokarev (2601), and other well-known chess players. In the women's tournament the rating favourites are Olga Badelka (2388), Alina Bivol (2371), Anastasia Bodnaruk (2356), and a number of other strong athletes. 
 
Round one did not see all favourites win their games. Thus, Kukhmazov – Najer, Popov – Grebnev, Remizov – Kokarev, Chernyshov – Sakaev, Demidov – Garifullina, as well as Trofimova – Charochkina, Kovalevskaya – Lesnykh, and Kuznetsova - Ovod ended in a draw.
 
The match days are June 26-29 and July 1-5. The games start at 11:00 a.m. Moscow time (which is 15:00 p.m. local time).
 
Those participants that finish taking 1-5 places qualify into the Russian Championships Superfinals.

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