10 September 2021

Tolstoy Cup Drawing of Lots Takes Place in Yasnaya Polyana

Children’s programme continued into the blitz tournament.

Photo credit: Eteri Kublashvili
Photo credit: Eteri Kublashvili


Going into the Tolstoy Cup, the tournament participants enjoyed an entertaining trip around the Yasnaya Polyana estate museum with a visit to the great Russian writer's house. The drawing of lots took place in the hall of this house.

Using Leo Tolstoy's original Staunton chess set, GMs Nikita Vitiugov and Maxim Matlakov reproduced the game between L. Tolstoy and E. Maude, played in Yasnaya Polyana on October 17, 1906. Ten chessboard squares were "encrypted" with the numbers ranging from 1 to 10. When a piece hit the "encrypted" square, the game stopped, and the museum director, Ekaterina Tolstaya, called out one of grandmasters’ names to assign a corresponding start number.

Drawing of lots results:

1. Kirill Alekseenko (Russia), 2. Anish Giri (Netherlands), 3. Nikita Vitiugov (Russia), 4. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan), 5. Dmitry Andreikin (Russia), 6. Evgeny Tomashevsky (Russia), 7. David Paravyan (Russia), 8. Anton Korobov (Ukraine), 9. Boris Gelfand (Israel), 10. Maxim Matlakov (Russia). 


Pairings for all rounds 


A mass children’s blitz tournament ran the same day as part of additional program in which as many as 95 young players participated. Ilya Demin (Orel Oblast) scored 8.5 out of 9 points to finish first. Four chess players had 7 points apiece; additional tiebreakers arranged the players as follows: Vladislav Solodin (Kursk Oblast) was second, and Maxim Nikonov (Tula Oblast) — third.

All the young chess players got gifts from the organisers. Prizes to the medalists were awarded by the Tolstoy Cup participants – Dmitry Andreikin, Evgeny Tomashevsky, and Nikita Vitiugov.

The children could take autographs and pictures with eminent grandmasters both before and after the ceremony.

The Tolstoy Cup is to run at the Yasnaya Polyana’s cultural centre on September 11–12. This is a 9-round Swiss rapid chess event with the time control being 15 minutes until the end of the game plus a 10-second increment per move. The first five rounds are taking place on September 11, the final four — on September the 12th. Games start at 15:00 (Moscow time).

 

Photo album (excursion)  

Photo album (children’s tournament) 

Tournament page