Grigoriy Oparin Leads Russian Championship Superfinal

Trio heads women's event.

The seventh round of the Russian Championship Superfinals was played on September 1st in Satka. 

In the open event, Dmitry Jakovenko defeated Alexey Sarana, Ian Nepomniachtchi beat Denis Khismatullin, while Grigoriy Oparin bested Mikhail Kobalia. The games Vitiugov - Tomashevsky, Inarkiev - Andreikin, and Dubov - Fedoseev were drawn.



Standings after round 7:

1. Grigoriy Oparin - 4.5
2-6. Daniil Dubov, Ernesto Inarkiev, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Dmitry Andreikin, Dmitry Jakovenko - 4
7-8. Vladimir Fedoseev, Alexey Sarana - 3.5
9-11. Nikita Vitiugov, Mikhail Kobalia, Ian Nepomniactchi - 3
12. Denis Khismatullin - 1.5. 

Round 8 pairings:

Khismatullin - Tomashevsky, Fedoseev - Vitiugov, Andreikin - Dubov, Kobalia - Inarkiev, Jakovenko - Oparin, Nepomniachtchi - Sarana

In the women's section, Alexandra Kosteniuk defeated Anastasiya Protopopova, Valentina Gunina outplayed Polina Shuvalova, while Oksana Gritsayeva lost to Elena Tomilova. The games Pogonina - Bodnaruk, Goryachkina - Girya, and Kashlinskaya - Galliamova ended in a draw.



Standings after round 7:

1-3. Olga Girya, Alina Kashlinskaya, Valentina Gunina - 4.5
4-7. Alisa Galliamova, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Natalija Pogonina, Aleksandra Goryachkina - 4
8-9. Oksana Gritsayeva, Elena Tomilova - 3.5
10.  Anastasia Bodnaruk 2.5
11. Polina Shuvalova - 2
12. Anastasia Protopopova - 1.

Round 8 pairings:

Shuvalova - Kosteniuk, Girya - Protopopova, Bodnaruk - Goryachkina, Gritsayeva - Pogonina, Galliamova - Tomilova, Gunina - Kashlinskaya  

The organizers are the Russian Chess Federation, Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation, Government of Chelyabinsk Oblast, and Magnezit Group. The competition is also supported by Renault Russia Company, Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System (FGC UES), and PhosAgro. Logistics partner of the Russian Chess Federation is Russian Post.

The tournament is a part of the Chess in Museums program, carried out by the RCF together with Timchenko Foundation since 2012. During the Superfinals, the exhibition of the Soviet and Russian painter, a representative of the “Severe Style” Geliy Korzhev (1925-2012) will be opened in Magnezit Palace of Culture. The exposition called Painting’s Way. Geliy Korzhev includes sketches and graphics from the archive of the artist's family. The sketches and graphics were made by Korzhev during the work on his key paintings on historical, biblical and other series from 1953 till 2012. 

Total prize fund is 9,000,000 roubles. Besides, the winners of both men's and women's tournaments will also receive a special prize – bright and stylish city crossover Renault Kaptur. 

The tournaments are round-robin events with 11 rounds. The match days: August 25-30 and September 1-5. Free day - August 31. The rounds start at 1 p.m. (Moscow time), the final 11th round begins at 11 a.m. (Moscow time).

Tournament page

Photos by Eteri Kublashvili