The leaders were determined after the fourth round at the National Cup stages among men and women - Zhamsaran Tsydypov  (The Republic of Buriatia) and Daniil Lintchevski (Saint Petersburg) as well as Iulija Osmak (Ukraine), Evgenija Ovod (Leningrad region) and Ekaterina Nasyrova (Tatarstan) showing a clean score.

In the section “Game of the day” we cover two battles whose main characters are the runners up to the leaders, the winners of Moscow Open 2019 Boris Savehcnko (Moscow) and Anastasia Bodnaruk (Saint Petersburg).

Five participants of the National Cup stage Moscow Open 2020 (among men and women) keep a clean score after four days of the tournament.

The Grandmasters Zhamsaran Tsysypov (The Republic of Buriatia) and Daniil Lintchevski (Saint Petesrburg) with 4 victories are at the top of the men’s list of the tournament. Sixteen chess players are behind the leader by half a point. Among them is the winner of the last year tournament Boris Savchenko and one lady Polina Shuvalova (both from Moscow).

Iulija Osmak (Ukraine), Evgenija Ovod (Leningrad region) and Ekaterina Nasyrova (Tatarstan) are leading the completion among women, all with 4 points. 

The first leaders of the National Cup among men of the Moscow Open festival have been determined –the Grandmasters Zhamsaran Tsydypov and Daniil Lintchevski are leading the race with a clean score. They are followed by Polina Shuvalova from Moscow with 3,5 points that beat a young Grandmaster from Uzbekistan Zhavokhir Sindarov in the fourth round. Straight after the game we asked Polina several questions.

- Hello, Polina! Tell us why you’ve decided to play in the main tournament and not the womrn’s one this year?
- I wanted to test myself in a stronger tournament. It is interesting to play with men. In addition, here there is a chance to get International Master or Grandmaster points.

In the second round of the National Cup of Moscow Open 2020 many rating favourites lost points. The duels of Arman Geivondian against Boris Grachev, Artyom Timofeev against Bulat Muratazin, Oleg Bykov and Klementy Sychev ended in a draw.  

We will look at the strongest battle in Najdorf variation between Grandmasters Zhamsaran Tsydypov and Denis Khayrulin.

In the third round peace treaties were signed on the first tables, nevertheless the battles turned out to be sharp and competitive. The game of the day was a meeting between an Armenian Grandmaster Manuel Petrosyan and Russian Polina Shuvalova in which interesting variations were left behind the scenes.  

More than 200 participants take part in the tournament among veterans traditionally included in the program of the RSSU Cup Moscow Open 2020.  This year the tournament divided into three groups: the
Tournament “Victory Contemporaries” is dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War and two tournaments (D1, D3) among men and among women aged 50 or older.

Eight chess players have one hundred percent result after three rounds in the tournament D1. They are Oleg Nikolenko, Evgeniy Dragomoretskiy and Viktor Ivanov (all from Moscow), Alexandr Provotorov (Kaluga region), Anatoliy Lopukhin (Penza region), Gennadiy Tunik (Saratov region), Sergei Pozin (Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug), Alexandr Chernyaev (Arkhangelsk region).

The Grandmaster from Ukraine Iulija Osmak began with three victories at the National Cup stage among women Moscow Open. We asked the leader several questions.

- Iulija, let’s start with a traditional question. How many times did you take part in our festival?
- It is my fourth year at Moscow Open. All four times I played in the tournament among women (National Cup stage among women – editor’s note). The results were not bad – I was always in top ten. In 2018 I shared 4-5th place with Polina Shuvalova, we coincided in all coefficients, but according to the fourth additional indicator I got the fifth prize.

- How is this tournament going for you?
- I think everything is going great so far – I have three points out of three. 

The main tournaments of the RSSU Cup Moscow Open 2020 are picking up steam, and herewith the rating favourites of the National Cup stages are not at the leading edge.

Nine chess players are advancing without losses in Tournament A. They are Zhamsaran Tsydypov   (The Republic of Buriatia), Artur Gabrielian, Zaur Tekyeev and Egor Bykov (all from Stavropol region), Vasiliy Korchmar, Nikita Matinian (both from Saratov region), Sergei Lobanov (Saint Petersburg), Saveliy Golobov (Moscow)  and Daniil Lintchevski (Leningrad region).

Thirty six participants are behind the leaders by half a point, including two rating favourites  - Grandmaster Boris Grachev (Moscow) and José Eduardo Martinez (Peru).

Every year Moscow Open festival hosts more that 1000 chess players, for many of them participation in the tournament has become traditional. Juergen Mueller has been working as an arbiter at our festival for 11 years now, and we decided to ask several questions to our guest from Germany.

- Hello, Juergen! Please tell us about the beginning of your work at the festival Moscow Open.
- It was an interesting story! (laughing). It was 2009. I had been reading different articles about your festival for about five years, and asked the chess players from Russia that I knew, how I could participate in it as an arbiter. I was advised to contact Alexander Kostyev (a director of the festival in those years – editor’s notes), and he invited me to come to Moscow. I remember that I was given a room to stay but I had to get there on my own. This is how I got to Moscow Open for the first time. 

The International Arbiter Training Seminar, the fifth event in the FIDE & CFR Pilot Project for Training and Certification of the International Arbiters for the 2020 World Chess Olympiad, took place at the Russian State Social University in Moscow on January 24-27, 2020. Held in Russian and English, this IA Training Seminar was a flagship event in the business program of the XVI Moscow Open International RSSU Chess Cup.

The number and geography of participants grow with every successive Training Seminar. The Moscow event featured 35 International Arbiters who represented five national federations: Russia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. 

In order to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, the programme of the competition included a new tournament “Victory Contemporaries”, its participants are the chess players born in 1945 or earlier. Despite their advanced age, 72 fans of this ancient game (61 men and 11 women) decided to sit down to the chess board. During the next nine days they will participate in the 7 round Swiss. 

After two rounds 12 participants scored two victories. They are Sergei Yuferov, Yuri Bazilevich, Valentin Egorov, Oleg Zilbert, Igor Sinelnikov, Vladislav Goroshilov and Evgeniy Korolev (all from Moscow), Yuri Zhelnin (Kaluga district), Anatoliy Kalinin and Victor Semenov (all from Moscovskaya oblast district), Leonard Melkonyan (Pskov region)... 

One third of the distance of the National Student Chess League Championship is covered. The rating favourite of the tournament International Master from Crimea Aleksandr Triapishko is one of the leaders with 2,5 points. Straight after one of the games we decided to ask this chess players several questions.

- Hello, Sasha! You have been participating in the tournaments of our festival for many years, tell us about your main success.
- I have been taking part in the festival Moscow Open since 2013 and all this time I participated only in Tournament A (currently Russian National Cup stage among men – editor’s note). This year I decided to combine participation in two tournaments – student and the main one. I love Moscow Open because I have always been raising my rating (laughing). Twice I was close to reach an International Master norm but unfortunately there was a lack of titled opponents.

The duels of the first round of the Moscow Open 2020 tournament brought some surprises. The second start number of the tournament Aleksei Pridorozhni was defeated by Grigorii Ter-Saakian, and the Grandmasters Sergey Vokov and Vitaly Kunin lost half a point in the games with Maxim Kulaev and Alen Yeremyan.

The Moscow Grandmaster rating favourite Boris Grachev confirmed his high class by triumphing over Artem Odegov. This game is considered the best in the first round.