A 2001 Parliament Game

Konstantin Maliszewski
chess@ukr.net
 

There will be no talks about politics or establishment of a new party - we'll discuss a chess event. Due to the efforts of the Association of People's Deputies of Ukraine, the next (sixth) tournament has been held. Its opening turned to be a festival of Ukrainian chess.

While waiting for the start up, all people were concentrated and reserved, however the peace was disturbed at last and the real boom worked up in the plenary session hall of the Supreme Rada at the appearance of an 18 year old youngster among the chess tables. Probably, the reader has already guessed that he was Ruslan Ponomariov. During the inauguration of the tournament by the main speaker of the country, Ruslan and his comrades-in-arms - the 2001 world champions -got the awards of the Supreme Rada. Besides, Ponomariov has got the certificate of the merited master of sports. Our congratulations!

The silence settled in a couple of minutes and the deputies, same as common chess players, hunched over the tables. Nine games according to the Swiss System should have determined the best players. The highlight of the tournament occurred in the fourth round: the last year winner Victor Petrov, Chairman of the UNR Secretariat, the ex-deputy, outsmarted Alexander Barabash and headed the tournament table to reap the laurels. This was his third victory in such competitions. The 2nd and 3rd places were shared between Victor Musiyaka (he was the best twice) and Alexander Barabash. As a team, it was again the UNR faction that won by getting 21 points. The nearest competitor was the communist's team with 13 points.