Oparin Wins Russian Championship's Higher League
Grigoriy Oparin won the Higher League of the Russian Championship, held in Kolomna, Russia. Together with Vladimir Fedoseev, Dmitry Kokarev, Alexander Riazantsev, and Aleksey Goganov he qualified for the Superfinal.
Photos Eteri Kublashvili.
The 2016 Higher League was the Russian Chess Federation's qualifier tournament for the 69th Russian Championship, the so-called Superfinal. That tournament is scheduled for October.
The Higher League was quite a strong event as well: A total of 60 players played, and only three were not titled! There were 35 GMs, 13 IMs, 1 WGM and 8 FMs. The top seeds were Maxim Matlakov (2691), Vadim Zvjaginsev (2677), Daniil Dubov (2666), Vladimir Fedoseev (2665), Sanan Sjugirov (2665) and Igor Lysyj (2663). The one WGM was Aleksandra Goryachkina (2482), who apparently preferred strong opposition over playing in the women's section.
The tournament was held June 22-July1 in Kolomna, a city in the Moscow region that was founded in the 12th century and located about 140 km southeast of the capital. The venue was the local Speed Skating Center.
The time control was 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes to end the game, with a 30-second increment from the first move. No draw offers were allowed until after move 40.
The tournament was surprisingly won by 22nd seed Grigoriy Oparin, who was the only player to finish on 6.5/9. He earned 530,000 roubles (€7,456/$8,304). A group of eight players scored 6.0/9 but only four of them will join Oparin in the Superfinal: Vladimir Fedoseev, Dmitry Kokarev, Alexander Riazantsev, and Aleksey Goganov.
Oparin had a remarkable tournament: he started with a draw, then won four games in a row, and then finished with four draws. His fourth win was against a stronger opponent, who eventually came second. With a knight on f5 and having played ...g5, Black knew he was in trouble. Oparin could have finished it quicker but remained in control.
Igor Lysyj won the 2014 Russian Championship Superfinal, and because of that he could participate last year as well. He won't be there this year, but did make it to this report. The following bishop maneuver was a beautiful “silent move.”
2016 Higher League | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rk. | SNo | Title | Name | FED | Rtg | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 22 | GM | Oparin Grigoriy | RUS | 2597 | 6,5 | 47,5 | 43,5 |
| 2 | 4 | GM | Fedoseev Vladimir | RUS | 2665 | 6 | 49,5 | 45,5 |
| 3 | 16 | GM | Kokarev Dmitry | RUS | 2624 | 6 | 46 | 42,5 |
| 4 | 9 | GM | Riazantsev Alexander | RUS | 2646 | 6 | 45,5 | 42 |
| 5 | 18 | GM | Goganov Aleksey | RUS | 2620 | 6 | 45 | 41,5 |
| 6 | 26 | GM | Ponkratov Pavel | RUS | 2573 | 6 | 44,5 | 42 |
| 7 | 2 | GM | Zvjaginsev Vadim | RUS | 2677 | 6 | 42,5 | 39,5 |
| 8 | 5 | GM | Sjugirov Sanan | RUS | 2665 | 6 | 39,5 | 36,5 |
| 9 | 20 | GM | Volkov Sergey | RUS | 2604 | 6 | 37,5 | 35 |
| 10 | 23 | GM | Timofeev Artyom | RUS | 2586 | 5,5 | 49 | 45 |
| 11 | 1 | GM | Matlakov Maxim | RUS | 2691 | 5,5 | 47 | 43 |
| 12 | 6 | GM | Lysyj Igor | RUS | 2663 | 5,5 | 43,5 | 40 |
| 13 | 25 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | RUS | 2576 | 5,5 | 43 | 40 |
| 14 | 21 | GM | Eliseev Urii | RUS | 2602 | 5,5 | 41,5 | 38,5 |
| 15 | 14 | GM | Khairullin Ildar | RUS | 2629 | 5,5 | 38 | 34,5 |
| 16 | 17 | GM | Khismatullin Denis | RUS | 2623 | 5,5 | 36 | 33 |
| 17 | 27 | GM | Pridorozhni Aleksei | RUS | 2552 | 5,5 | 32 | 31 |
| 18 | 38 | IM | Vavulin Maksim | RUS | 2507 | 5 | 47,5 | 43 |
| 19 | 28 | GM | Predke Alexandr | RUS | 2550 | 5 | 47 | 43,5 |
| 20 | 30 | GM | Shaposhnikov Evgeny | RUS | 2545 | 5 | 45 | 42,5 |
(Full final standings here.)
The women's tournament was won by IM Evgenija Ovod, who qualified for the women's Superfinal together FM Daria Pustovoitova, IM Alina Kashlinskaya, WIM EkaterinaUbiennykh and IM Daria Charochkina. The winner had Caissa on her side in the last round.
IM Evgenija Ovod won the women's tournament.
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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