The Second Iskir Kurass Memorial
Kyiv, 23 June - 1 July 2000
 

Kurass Memorial in Kyiv, Ukraine, Won by Alexey Kosikov
Leonid Nikolaev (2258) takes second
The second Iskir Kurass Memorial was held by the Chess Federation of Kyiv (Ukraine) from June 23 - July 1, 2000.
The known Ukrainian chess trainer Alexey Kosikov (2460), who finished with 8 wins out of 9 games, won the tournament alone. Not long ago I wrote about his unsuccessful performance in the 11th category tournament The Kyiv Spring - 2000, and now such convincing revenge!
Taking second place a little unexpectedly was Leonid Nikolaev (2258) with 7.5 points out of 9. The winner of the previous first Kurass Memorial (1999), IM Leonid Kernazhitsky (2410), only scored 6 points this time.
 
Iskir Kurass
The tournament is held in memory of chess master Iskir Kurass (29.12.1934-26.06.1998), who boundlessly loved chess. In the early 90s, after the formation of the independent Ukraine and, hence, of the independent Ukrainian Chess Federation, he became the author and founder of the Ukrainian national chess rating. To be honest, I can't imagine that anyone else could have worked so much and so persistently on the Ukrainian chess ratings at that time.
I was lucky to communicate with Kurass during my participation in the international tournaments in Kyiv in 1995 and 1997. Kurass visited these competitions as a spectator, but when there came time for the analysis of finished games, young Grandmasters had an opportunity to see how many ideas and improvements could be offered by an experienced master.
Kurass died in 1998, in his Kyiv, while playing chess, not having had time to finish his game against Leonid Kernazhitsky...
Below is the text of this last game, published in the Ukrainian newspaper Sportyvna gazeta in 1998:
Kurass, Iskir (2320) - Kernazhitsky, Leonid (2355) [E62]
Kyiv SPARTAK 26.6.1998
1.c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 0-0 5.0-0 d6 6.d4 c6 7. Nc3 Bf5 8. Nh4 Be6 9.d5 cxd5 10.cxd5 Bd7 11. Nf3 Na6 12. Nd4 Rc8 13.h3 Nc5 14. Be3 a5 15. Qd2 a4 16. Rab1 Ne8 17. Rfc1 e5 18.dxe6 fxe6 19.b4 axb3 20. Nxb3 Nxb3 21. Rxb3 Bc6 22. Bg5 Qa5 23.e4 Rf7 24.h4 Rcc7 25. Rd1 Bd7 26. Nb5 Qxd2
(Draw by special arbiter's decision)
330 games of the Kurass Memorial 2000 are available to download in PGN format.
My thanks to O.G.Tovchiga for his help in preparation of this material.
Mikhail Golubev, www.Kasparovchess.com

Tournament results:
1. Alexey Kosikov 8/9 2. Leonid Nikolaev 7,5/9 3-4. Sergey Perun and Taras Datsuk 7/9 5-6. Sergey Stavroiani and Oleg Zigura 6,5/9 (79 players)
 
 
330 games in zipped pgn
article on KasparovChess