The first two rounds of Swiss open tournaments can often become a difficult test for the participants. Sometimes it’s hard for some players, including experienced grandmasters, to enter the game. None of that applies to the rating favorites of the Moscow Open 2014 Men’s and Women’s Premier Russian Cup. Current European champion Alexander Moiseenko and Russian Women's U20 champion Anastasia Bodnaruk of St. Petersburg have scored 2 points each and will again play first boards in the third round on Monday, Feb 3.

The most titled participant of the Senior section, Grandmaster Evgeny Sveshnikov of Latvia also has no losses. However, 31 players share the same result.

Round-robin competitions have their own specific character, different from the open tournaments. As a rule, the events move not so rapidly in this category of the competitions. Nevertheless, Russian Junior champion Vladislav Artemiev  of Omsk, Russia managed to get two victories at the start of the Student Grandmaster Cup. Maria Severina of Moscow, Russia and Nafisa Muminova of Uzbekistan) finished the first round with the same results in the Women’s tournament.

We have to mention that around 900 chess players participate in the adult competitions of the festival. Their number will increase to 1000 when the participants of the shogi and chess problem tournaments will join in.

The third round of the competitions will be held on Monday, Feb 3. The games will start at 16:00.

Results of the festival will be announced on Sunday, Feb 9.