Russian team chess championship round 1

results and standings

The Russian team chess championship has started yesterday. A total of 12 teams with many of the top world players will play for the title (click here for all teams and players). Many interesting games and some surprises were seen the first day. Here is a match by match report of the event.

Shsm (Moscow) - 64 (Moscow) 3:3

Alexander Onischuk managed to hold to a draw Boris Gelfand on board 1. In the battle of the youngsters Ivan Popov won against Ian Nepomniachtchi, but Wang Hao defeated with black Potkin to equalize the match.

TPS- Saransk (Saransk) - South Ural 4:2

The veteran team of South Ural was not able to hold against TPS Saransk. Ivanchuk and Sakaev won their games with white against Riazantsev and Korchnoi.

Finek - Gazprom (Sankt Peterburg) - Shatar Buryatia 2,5:3,5

A wrong step for Finek in the very beginning of the competition. On board 1 Svidler and Gashimov (both of them Baku Grand Prix participants) finished draw. The Mtel Masters 2008 Chinese start Xianghi Bu defeated with black Vadim Zvjaginsev to give Shatar the lead, however Sergey Movsesjan quickly equalized with a win over Tregubov. It was Boris Avrukh to win the decisive game with black against David Navara and give Shatar the win.

Spasio-Swiss (Moscow) - Ural (Ekaterininburg) 2:4

This match was the derby of the day. Ponomariov - Radjabov and Mamedyarov - Kamsky finished piecefully. Vladislav Tkachiev and Malakhov followed suit. It was Aleksandrov vs. Motylev 0-1 that turned the match in Ural's favor.

Economist Saratov 2 - Economist Saratov 1 2:4

Now this is an exciting local encounter! Tomashevskii gave an early lead to Economist 1 with a victory with black over Evdokimov. Andreikin managed to hold Alekseev, but Galkin gave the full victory to Economist 1 with a win over Korneev.

Tomsk 400 - Politekhnik (Nizhny Tagil) 2,5:3,5

This match was the Russian team chess championship's major surprise of the day. Everyone counted Tomsk 400 as favorite for the title from the very beginning, however, Politekhnik managed to surprise them on day 1. Sergey Karjakin gave Tomsk the lead with a victory over Efimenko. However, Van Wely and Timofeev (both with white) lost to Grachev and Lisii to give stable advantage to Politekhnik. Jakovenko was the last hope for Tomsk, but his draw with Areshenko gave the victory to Politekhnik.

Current Standings

Team / Match points / Game points

1-3. Ural (Ekaterininburg) 2 4
1-3. Economist Saratov 1 2 4
1-3. TPS- Saransk (Saransk) 2 4
4-5. Shatar Buryatia 2 3,5
4-5. Politekhnik 2 3,5
6-7. Shsm (Moscow) 1 3
6-7. 64 (Moscow) 1 3
8-9. Finek 0 2,5
8-9. Tomsk 400 0 2,5
10-12. Economist Saratov 2 0 2
10-12. South Ural 0 2
10-12. Spasio-Swiss 0 2