5 August 2015
The Russky Island is Dominated by the Uncompromising
The rapid and classical Russian Chess Cup stage on the Far East in the review of Darya Trapeznikova.
Just as summer is finding its sure steps along our unencompassable country, in an equal measure so are a number of stages of the Russian Chess Cups. Following the completion of the Voronezh and Samara events the torch has been taken up by the easternmost of its stages in Vladivostok. The bad news is that this year’s July was marked by a failure of a number of tournaments as Izhevsk and Barnaul were unable to cope with the current financial crisis. However, for many people out there, including the author of this article, the choice of where to go was really not on the agenda and, therefore, all of us together, we have arrived at the Russky Island.
Vladivostok has only recently popped up on the chess map of Russia (the event has been held since 2012), but has already succeeded in having gained a firm foothold and a lot of public attention since even last year it hosted the Russian Higher League. This year, as many as the eleven grandmasters have come together to conquer the coast of the Japan Sea, being headed by the grandmaster Dmitry Kokarev, Alexei Goganov and Pavel Smirnov. The representatives of the Far East were headed by its rating favorite Konstantin Sek. In general, one may fall under an impression is that the players of this most remote of the federal districts of Russia shy away from taking part in the chess life of the rest of the country and virtually do not participate in it; they can rarely be seen in the open tournaments conducted in the European part of the country, and very few of us will be able to name the strongest representatives of this region. Meanwhile, there are a lot of promising juniors such as Roman Yanchenko, Danila Sutormin, Denis Sin, and Daria Khokhlova ... It looks like the moment is not that far away when the Far East is going to get its first grandmaster.
However, let’s go back to the tournament itself. The competitions program was opened up by the "Tikhookeansky Meridian" – one of the stages among the Grand Prix Series in rapid chess. As many as 93 participants toed the starting line. The tournament was played in more than comfortable conditions when as many as 3 days were afforded for 11 rounds, for which many special thanks go to the organizers. It is due to this relatively free schedule of the first days on the Russky Island that allowed striking up a full acquaintance with the habitat. The event is known to be held on the premises of the Far Eastern Federal University campus, when the participants play in the main building and stay in the hotel accommodations that bear resemblance to the students’ dormitories. It should be noted, however, that the amount of comfort provided by each accommodation is on a par with a hotel level. Being of immense size on the one hand, but clean and well-maintained spaces of the FEFU campus on the other hand really defy your imagination. No other national university has ever dreamt of such a showcase campus. A beautiful stadium, an artificial football field, as well as basketball, volleyball and tennis courts coupled with a beach are all available to the public. Out of all available types of the leisure sports the chess players, in their most part, preferred volleyball and swimming. Such attractive conditions not only contribute to the influx of students and chess players, but also of ordinary tourists.
The victory in the "Tikhookeansky Meridian" was gained by the uncompromising Boris Savchenko, who scored 9 out of 11 points and did not make even a single draw. The decisive battle for the title of the most rapid player in Vladivostok saw him fighting against Pavel Smirnov. The game evolved into a hot battle as Pavel obtained a serious amount of advantage, but failed to master his nerves, while Boris, known for his fighting qualities, managed not only to avoid losing in the first place, but went on to win the decisive game in the final run. The second place was taken by Dmitry Kokarev who also scored 9 points, but had to step down due to his inferior Buchholz, whereas the third and the only player with 8.5 points was Pavel Maletin. In addition to that the prizes were awarded to boys and girls under 19 years old, as well as to women and veterans. Interestingly, Vladivostok enacted a "special provision", according to which those born in 1996 still fell under the category of "under 19", while the rest of the chess world has shifted the upper boundary to the birth year 1997 as far back as 7 months ago.
The chess feast was continued by the Russian Chess Cup in the classical format called the "Primorsky Debut", which was organized in parallel with the "Russky Island" – the Russian Chess Cup for children. The "Primorsky Debut" featured only 43 participants – just compare this figure with the one from the rapid event. While a number of players switched over into the children's tournament and some players simply left, the rest, however, were prepared to fight to the last bullet. Ironically, the winner of the tournament was once again determined in the game Smirnov - Savchenko. At the time Pavel was confidently leading the tournament, having lost only to Alexei Goganov and having defeated everyone else. The decisive game saw him fully armed and wanting to take revenge for the bitter defeat in the rapid event. Pavel had again all the chances to win, but Boris escaped once more - this time with a draw. As a result, 7.5 points and the first place belongs to Pavel Smirnov, the second place - to Aleksey Goganov (with 7 points). While the Bronze medal was claimed by as many as four participants, the Buchholz favored the luckiest of them - Aleksei Pridorozhni (with 6.5 points). As in the previous time, the prizes were awarded to veterans and juniors, whereas no prizes for women were unfortunately allocated this time.
Within the framework of the festival called the "Tikhookeansky Meridian" the chess events were coupled with the referee seminars, which resulted in many of the participants having received the category of the "young judge", as well as with the trivia games for children "twists and turns", where the most successful were also singled out and awarded. In general, everyone who arrived at the Russky Island could find something to occupy himself with to his or her liking. However, all good things are bound to come to an end sooner or later, so we have to say farewell to Vladivostok and are looking forward to the next stage. See you next time!
