Why Is Ovechnkin Promoting Chess?
Sport-Express observer looks back on the results of the last chess year
The King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships have finished in St Petersburg. Russia’s Daniil Dubov won gold in rapid chess and our countrywoman Kateryna Lagno became the world champion in blitz. These results spelled the end of an exciting 2018.
Zenit’s captain is astounded by rapid and blitz.
Мало кто знает, что многие известные спортсмены очень любят играть в шахматы. Например, полузащитник «Локомотив» Игорь Денисов, как-то подписал мирный договор с самим Петром Свидлером. Восьмикратный чемпион России так был удивлен ничьей, что потом во всех интервью расхваливал способности футболиста.
Few know that many famous sportsmen enjoy playing chess. For example, Lokomotiv’s midfielder Igor Denisov once signed a peace treaty with Peter Svidler himself. The eight-time champion of Russia was so taken aback by the draw that he spent the next several interviews exalting the footballer.
Meanwhile, the captain of Zenit’s basketball team Evgeny Voronov is obsessed with chess. Despite playing and training on a regular basis, he found the time to attend the rapid and blitz world championships, which took place in St Peterburg just before New Year’s.
“It is a true celebration”, writes Voronov. “I fell in love with this game during the Karjakin-Carlsen match. Now I spend all of my free time studying textbooks. I desperately want to learn to play well. And this match was a real gift for chess fans in St Petersburg. I can’t believe that I saw Carlsen, Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi, Anand, Svidler, Grischuk, Aronian and Nakamura compete before my eyes. I feel that fewer people watch basketball or football. Chess is very popular in our country once again and that is wonderful.”
After listening to the emotional monologue of the famous basketball player, we decided to analyse what happened in our chess kingdom this past year.
From Arabia to St. Petersburg
2018 was an eventful year. Russia hosted two of the largest international tournaments. Kateryna Lagno became the vice-world champion in classical chess and world champion in blitz! Daniil Dubov won the world championship for rapid chess and our country’s men’s team split 1stplace at the Olympiad in Batumi.
Sergey Karjakin, who came second at the candidates’ tournament in Berlin, was one win short from playing Magnus Carlsen.
The Russian juniors who study in Sirius won medals at European and world youth championships in different age groups. Chess life is bubbling vigorously in our country.
The women’s world championship in Khanty-Mansiysk was recognised as the best world championship in history. Never before was the tournament preceded by such PR support. News of the championship filled media outlets and social media. Advertising was performed by such famous sportsmen as Alexander Ovechkin, Andrei Kirilenko, Alexander Legkov, Sofiya Velikaya, Maria Kiselyova and many others.
The King Salman World rapid and Blitz championships, which took place in St Petersburg from 25thto 31stDecember, had thousands of live viewers and caused a true eruption in the city. The event itself was fairly unexpected- no one knew about it a month ago. The tournament was supposed to happen in Saudi Arabia, which signed a contract with FIDE in 2017.
According to the official version, the world championship was transferred to Russia due to the political difficulties surrounding Riyadh. More simply, Russia regained the initiative. The event is unusual in the extreme, since after the doping scandals, we have gotten used to Russia being stripped of tournaments: the world championship for bobsleigh and skeleton which went from Sochi to Germany and the world biathlon championship, which went from Tyumen to Slovenia. However, the major role in the transfer was played by the former deputy Prime Minister of Russia Arkady Dvorkovich, who has recently become FIDE President and who has reached an agreement with King Salman. Therefore, thanks to the active strategies of FIDE and RCF, one of the most dramatic chess tournaments was salvaged.
Karjakin one step away from the match
We want to start by saying that Sergey Karjakin was very close to playing another match against Magnus Carlsen. At the candidates’ tournament in Berlin in March, he only let America’s Caruana ahead at the last round. It is unfortunate that Sergey was unable to challenge the champion for a second time. But we want to believe that Sergey will be able to compete for the crown after navigating a difficult path once again.
Kaateryna Lagno’s achievements in Khanty-Mansiysk were nothing short of heroic. A mother of four, she went from the birth clinic to Khanty-Mansiysk. Ekaterina not only confidently progressed into the final, but she had a real chance to return the crown to Russia. In the last round of classical chess, she only had to draw with White, but she could not cope with her nerves and lost the tie-breaker.
But Katerina had no intention of stopping there. The heroine mother won the King Salman World Blitz Championship without losing a single game. That was a fantastic result. Katerina has deservedly become the heroine of the year.
We are very happy with our juniors. Thanks to RCF’s commitment to working with talented young players from around the country, Russia is producing world-class grandmasters on a regular basis. Despite Magnus Carlsen’s bravado promise that he would win two titles in St Petersburg, he was defeated by a young Daniil Dubov, who won gold for his country. This is a great success when we consider that the last time a Russian became world rapid champion was in 2012, when Sergey Karjakin came first.
Juniors advance
Sirius is the cradle of talented chess players. The juniors’ regular sessions with celebrated grandmasters like Vladimir Kramnik have borne fruit. Aside from Sirius, there are hundreds of chess schools in the country.
Aleksandra Maltsevskaya won gold at the World Youth Championship. The World Youth Rapid Championship had three Russian medallists: Dmitry Tsoi (U14s), Andrey Esipenko (U16s) and Alexey Sarana (U18s). Polina Shuvalova won the U18 World Youth Championship.
Thanks to the efforts of RCF and its President Andrei Filatov, who was re-elected for another term, the famous Central Chess Club was opened. The Club hosts cultural events besides its usual calendar of tournaments and competitions among children, veterans and professionals. Jazz evenings, solo concerts and poetry- all these can be heard at the Club. After the building was reconstructed, we can conclude that Gogolevsky Boulevard, 14 is one of the capital’s most beautiful buildings.
The RCF Chess Museum is another topic. It houses chess pieces from around the world. Twice a week any visitors can learn the history of chess sets of Mao Zedong, a chess set which travelled into space, pieces from Leningrad during the Blockade or the famous table which hosted the legendary Karpov-Kasparov match in 1984. And that is only a small percentage of the exhibits which can be seen behind the walls of the famous museum.
“Although I supported Karjakin, I am very happy that the rapid tournament was won by Russia’s chess school,” says Voronov as a farewell to the tournament. “I have a whole ton of impressions. When I am in Moscow, we’ll organise a trip to the museum for my whole team. I will introduce my teammates to chess. It will help them on the basketball field.”
P.S. This chess year was a successful one for Russia. We wish everyone a happy holiday season as we look towards 2019 with optimism. We believe that new tournaments, victories and pleasant surprises await us.
