Chess Solving Championship “Alexander Pochinok Memorial” will take place at the Russian State Social University (RSSU) as part of the program of the 15th International Chess Cup Moscow Open 2019.

E1 Tournament will be open to all adult chess solving players who have previous experience in solving chess problems at chess solving tournaments. The Tournament consists of six round over two days (February 2-3). Tournament starts on February 2, at 10 a.m.

E2 Tournament will determine the strongest chess solving players born in 2000s. There will be held 1 two-hour round on the February 3 at 10 a.m. In this Tournament prizes and award-winning places will be separate for young women and men.

Open all-Russian individual / team National Student Chess League Championship will be presented during the XV International Chess Cup Moscow Open 2019 from January 24 (date of arrival) to February 2. The prize money for the Championship is 500.000 rubles.

List of those with sport rank or title in chess, Russian or international rating, namely:

-  Bachelor, Master, PhD students enrolled in full-time university-level programs;
- graduates of the universities with higher national diplomas obtained in 2018.

Participants should be under 25 years on January 1, 2019 (born in 1994 or younger).

There are separate tournaments for men and women.

Dear friends!

I congratulate you on the main chess holiday of our country – the 15th International Chess Cup Moscow Open 2019, which will be held from January 24 to February 4 at the Russian State Social University.

The RSSU will unite motivated, intellectual, creative, open-minded audience, which forms the intellectual elite of our society. Our countries need your proactive approach, up-to-date knowledge and fresh perspectives on today’s problems, and the competition is a good opportunity to present yourselves. We expect that participation in Moscow Open will help you in your work, in social and volunteer activities, and will lead you to success.

The XV International RSSU Moscow Open Chess Cup will be held at the Russian State Social University from January 24 (beginning of the participants’ arrival) till February 4 (departure day), 2019. As in previous years, the total guaranteed prize fund of the challenge will be 4 million 500 thousand rubles.

By tradition, the program of the challenge will include eight tournaments.
A - RSSU Cup – Men’s Russian Chess Cup Stage.
B - RSSU Cup – Women's Russian Chess Cup Stage.
C - RSSU Amateur Chess Cup.
D - RSSU Senior Chess Cup.
E - RSSU Chess Problem Solving Cup – Alexander Pochinok Memorial.
F - National Student Chess League Cup.
G - RSSU Rapid Chess Cup for Blind and Visually Impaired.
H - RSSU Chess Cup for School Chess Champions – Oleg Zhuravsky Memorial.

Sunday, February 4 the solemn Ceremony Closing of the 14th RSSU Chess Cup, 2018 Moscow Open was held. In course of nine days 900 chess players from 30 countries of the world were struggling for medals.

Organizers and honored guests climbed the scene to congratulate winners and medalists: FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, RSSU Rector, President of the National Student Chess League Natalya Pochinok, President of Moscow Chess Federation Vladimir Palikhata and Deputy Director General of Management of sports and entertainment events of Moscow Alexander Buzdakov. They addressed the participants of the competition with welcome words.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov addressed the RSSU senior management with the words of gratitude for the organization of the festival. 

The 2018 Moscow Grand Prix for solving chess studies – A. Pochinok Memorial – was held in the last day of the RSSU 2018 Moscow Open Cup. 54 chess players were struggling for medals in this competition.

International master from Tver Evgeny Viktorov wins the competition. He solved 11 of 12 studies and scored 53 points. International master from Lithuania Satkus Vidmantas is a silver medalist. He showed the same result but let the victory go to the Russian due to the tie-breaks. Evgeny Fomichev (Nizhegorodskaya region) with 47 points wins a bronze medal. Tie-breaks allowed him outrun FIDE master from Moscow Anatoly Mukoseev.

The second edition of the RSSU Blind and Visually Impaired Fast Chess Cup was held on February 3-4 within the frames of the 2018 Moscow Open RSSU Cup program. The competitions were held according to the rules of the Swiss system with the participation of 15 chess players.

Stanislav Babarykin (Odintsovo, Moscow region) won the tournament. He scored 8 points in nine rounds and outran Evgeniy Suslov (Ivanov region) according to tie-breaks. Suslov became a silver medalist.

Alexey Komissarov from Moscow with 6,5 points won a bronze medal.  

Grandmaster Anastasia Bodnaruk achieved a victory in the 2018 Moscow Open Women’s Cup of Russia tournament. After a loss in the first round the titled chess player from St. Petersburg managed to win eight games in a row that allowed her to be one point ahead of her opponents.

Alina Kashlinskaya and Polina Shuvalova (both from Moscow), Marina Nechaeva (Moscow region) and Iulija Osmak (Ukraine) scored 7 points. Kashlinskaya wins a silver medal, and a bronze medal goes to Nechaeva due to tie-breaks.

Moscow international master Evgeni Dragomarezkij started the RSSU Veteran Cup with seven victories. One round to the end he was one point ahead of his closest chasers. He played in a draw with international master Alexandr Provotorov in the game of the last round and secured the first place with a brilliant result – 8 of 9 points.

International master Evgenij Kalegin (Ufa) remained half a point behind the leader and became a silver medalist. Six players with 6 points shared the third place: Alexandr Provotorov (Kaluga region), Gennady Tunik (Saratov region), Nikolai Mishuchkov (Leningrad region), Sergey Pozin (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous region - Yugra), Evgeny Sveshnikov (Chelyabinsk region) and Arkadi Vul (Moscow region). 

The RSSU Women’s Veteran Cup finished with the triumph of grandmaster Galina Strutinskaia. The victory over Larisa Khropova in the game of the last round allowed the chess player from Moscow scoring 7,5 points and breaking away from her opponents.

Grandmaster Elena Fatalibekova (Moscow) and international master Elena Sazonova (Tyumen) remained behind the winner half a step behind and shared the second and the third places. Tie-breaks secured Fatalibekova with a silver medal, and Sazonova – with a bronze medal.

FIDE Master Natalia Beliaeva (Moscow) with 5,5 points wins the first place in the 70+ age category.

Saturday, February 3 the RSSU assembly hall hosted the Ceremony Closing of the competitions for school children and students, which were ran in the course of nine days within the frames of the 2018 Moscow Open festival.

RSSU Rector, doctor of economics Natalya Pochinok, first Vice-President of the Chess Federation of Moscow Nikita Kim, World Vice-Champion Sergey Karyakin, Sberbank-AST Development Director Yulia Obalyaeva, Director of  the Department of the State Policy in the Sphere of Education of Children and the Youth by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Igor Mikheev, Director of the Department of the State Policy in the Sphere of Vocational Education and Training Inna Chernoskutova took part in the ceremony.

The 2018 School Champions’ Cup – O. Zhuravsky Memorial was held in the course of nine days. More than 850 chess players were struggling for the medals in four age categories. The names of the winners and medalists were announced on Saturday, February 3 in the RSSU assembly hall.

Jahandar Azadaliyev (Azerbaijan) tops the U9 Boys’ Group. He scored 8 points. Teimur Toktomushev (Ukraine), Ruslan Khabibullin and Bogdan Volynets (both from Tatarstan) scored 7,5 points. The tie-breaks provided Toktomushev with a silver medal, and Khabibullin with the bronze. 

Anna Shukhman (Orenburg region) became the triumphator of the tournament of the youngest girls – 8 points. Evelina Zavivaeva (Nizhegorodskaya region) and Sofia Mutina (St. Petersburg) scored half point less.

The National Student Chess League Championship was included into the program of the RSSU International Cup, Moscow Open for the third time. The competition was held in course of nine days in both individual and team events and finished on February 4.

Students of the Ural State Mining University (Ekaterinburg) won gold medals in the team event – David Parvyan and Anna Styazhkina. Together they scored 15 of possible 18 points. The team of the Lomonosov Moscow State University (Dmitriy Aleksandrovskiy, Svetlana Tishova) with 12 points won silver medals. Students of the Samara State Aerospace University (Alexey Mokshanov, Darya Makarova) also scored 12 points and won bronze medals, tie-breaks didn’t allow them to win silver medals.