The president of the Moscow Chess Federation Sergey Lazarev in his interview to “Sport-express” talked about the largest Moscow tournament and the goals for the forthcoming year.
– The International RSSU Cup Moscow Open is a chess festival, that includes rating competitions among professionals, competitions among children and also veterans older than 75. Apart from this, the event will be methodological since it will host arbiter seminars as well as experience exchange among professionals. Every year we introduce some innovations and events during the tournament trying to improve the quality of the organization. And this year there will be and intense and busy programme. We have been preparing this event for more than 3 months and now we are entering the final straight.
– What are the goals of the organizers before for this tournament?
– First of all, it’s popularization of chess since there are different generations taking part, there is knowledge exchange. Moreover, the competition is aimed not only at Moscow residents – it is open, national. And more than a half of all the participants come from different cities and countries. And for Moscow this tournament number 1 in Russia is a significant event.
– Will famous chess players take part in the tournament?
– This year we are expecting a record number of participants. As of today we have more than 2500 applications, that is why I won’t single anyone out personally. But since our tournament has a good prize fund, it attracts a sufficient number of chess players.
– Why do you think the tournament received wide recognition and promotion?
– Thanks to its intense programme and good organization. Chess players are people who are experienced in attending events and they feel where attention is paid to it. In addition, a prize fund of the festival is important, this year it comprises 4,5 million rubles. For chess players who are professionals and take part in the tournament this is significant since they earn their living in this sport.
– What are the goals of the Moscow Chess Federation in the new year?
– The main goals that we set for 2020 are rejuvenation of the Moscow team as well as six first prizes at the National team championship. This year we have also extended the calendar of the Moscow Chess Federation. And we are planning to conduct about 60 tournaments. This year our country commemorates 75 years since the victory in the Great Patriotic War. In order to honour this date a large number of events will be held that I am sure we will run at the highest level. As for the large events I will mention the World Chess Olympiad to be held in Luzhniki that will host an extensive programme. In addition, we set the goal to raise the standard for the traditional competitions held in Moscow. To make spaces for the tournaments interesting for the participants and children. Thus, we have already conducted the Moscow Championship in the Gymnastics Palace of Irina Viner-Usmanova. Everything went well, that is why we will try to conduct the events at the same level in the future.
