The awarding ceremony of the winners of the children’s tournament of the festival, the RSSU School Champions Cup was held on Saturday, Feb 8 in the assembly hall of the Russian State Social University. More than 700 children of 5 to 15 years old were competing in the course of nine days in the hospitable social university for the prizes that will give them a right to advance to the European School Championship that will be held this summer in Greece.
RSSU Pro-rector Mr. Alexei Pisarev, Chairman of the FIDE Competition Organizing Commission Mr. Theodoros Tsorbatsoglou (Greece) and Chairman of International school chess association, Director of the tournament Mr. Alexander Kostiev awarded the children.
Alexei Pisarev thanked the participants of the competitions, children and their parents. He informed that involvement of children into the game of chess and healthy way of life is a priority goal that is successfully achieved at the festival for the tenth time in a row. Alexander also marked the increasing mass character and broad geography of the tournament. “We don’t say goodbye, and will be waiting for you to come back next year!” –the Pro-rector added.
Theodoros Tsorbatsoglou thanked everybody for the participation and invited the prize-winners to come to Greece as being a FIDE representative he will be the organizer of the European School Championship.
Director of the festival Alexander Kostiev marked that the RSSU has been organizing the biggest children’s tournament at the highest possible level for the ten consecutive years. The organizers have been also arranging the trips of delegations of children together with their parents and coaches to the European and World Championship to many different countries, such as Greece, Turkey, Poland, Romania. Next year the trip to Singapore has been already planned. “We will continue to follow this tradition,” – Alexander added.
Muscovite Georgy Vdovin took the first place in the youngest age category – among boys U9. He gained 8 points that provided him with half a step lead over three opponents. Ilya Makoveev (Krasnodar region) won a silver medal according to additional index. Alexander Kataev (Murmansk region) won a bronze medal. Kirill Kostenko (Moscow) with 7.5 points finished behind the prize winners’ line.
Eva Stepanyan (Stavropol region) with 7.5 of possible 9 points became a winner of the Girls’ U9 tournament. Sofiia Dashina (Krasnodar) and Maria Sovina (Ivanovo) with half a point less won a silver and a bronze medal correspondingly. Emilia Zavivaeva (Nizhny Novgorod) also earned 7 points, but additional index prevented her from being among the prize winners.
Three chess players showed the best results in the Boys’ U11 group. As a result Arseniy Nesterov (Veliky Novgorod) won a gold medal, Ilia Arkhipkin received a silver medal, and Aleksey Geshko (Tver) became a bronze medalist.
Anna Podgornova (Samara region) became a winner in the Girls’ U11 tournament. Having gained 7.5 she took a lead over Glafira Usacheva (Moscow region) by additional index. Four more players earned 7 points each. Alexandra Afanasieva (Moscow) won the third place and the last ticket to Greece. Ronit Levitan (Israel), Ekaterina Levicheva (Yaroslav region) and Sofya Smagina (Kemerovo) couldn’t make it to win a medal.
Danila Moiseev (Tula) won a gold medal in the Boys’ U13 tournament. He is the only one to take the first place with 7.5 points. Five players gained 7 points each. Additional index favored Anton Konaplev (Smolensk) and Maksim Klimenko (Altay region). They became a silver medalist and a bronze one correspondingly. Yevgeniy Roshka (Ukraine), Aital Mestnikov (Yakutsk) and Arseniy Nerushev (Orel) were the next ones to finish.
Daria Filippova (Chelyabinsk region) and Arpine Grigoryan (Armenia) with 7 of 9 points showed the best results in the Girls’ U13 tournament. Filippova won the gold according to the additional index, and Grigoryan received a silver medal. Yana Spiridonova (Kazan) with 6.5 points became a bronze medalist. She managed to leave three opponents behind. Anna Kochukova (Borisoglebsk), Daria Shelepneva (Nizhny Novgorod region) and Elizaveta Zhemchuzhina (St. Petersburg) were behind them.
Saparmyrat Atabayev (Turkmenistan) took the first place in the eldest age category – among Boys’ U15. He earned 8 points in 9 rounds. Ruslan Shavshin (Dagestan) with half a point less is a silver medalist. Bulat Nizamov (Kazan) with 7 points is at the third place.
This year Irina Dorogovoz (Khanty-Mansiysk), who had won the Moscow Open several times already, showed absolutely the best result of the competitions. She earned 8.5 of 9 points in the Girls’ U15 tournament. Viktoria Zajtzeva (Kaluga region) with 7 points received a silver medal.
Anastasia Mamontova (Chelyabinks region) with 6.5 points became a bronze medalist. Thanks to the additional index she managed to leave Ayana Khangueva (Irkutsk region) and Antonina Resmyatova (Krasnoyarsk) behind. They took the fourth and the fifth places accordingly.
The ceremony awarding finished with a common photo of the Champions, prize winners and the organizers of the festival.
Please enjoy the photo report made by Galina Popova.