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Chess championships of Ukraine among men and women took place in Alushta from 2 to 11 May.
Usually, the men's and women's championships are of about equal qualification strength of players. Nevertheless, it happened to be different this time: the women's tournament turned to be very good while the men's one was, frankly speaking, rather weakfish. However, we relay the facts as they actually happened.
The women's championship comes first. There were 37 chess-players representing the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, 15 regions and the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol. Among participants were 6 International Grandmasters, 4 International Masters and 6 FIDE Masters.
In compliance with a decision of the Presidential Council of the Ukrainian Chess Federation concerning the recruitment of the All-Ukrainian team for the 35th World Chess Olympiad (Bled, Slovenia, 27 September - 13 October 2002), one place in the women's team was granted to Natalia Zhukova, ex-champion of Europe. The other candidates should have been determined by this championship. Before the start, the main claimants to take the places in the team and, consequently, the favourites of the championship were those with the highest rating: a native of the Crimea Tatyana Vasilevich, Donetsk players Anna Zatonskih and Tatiana Kononenko, and Olga Alexandrova from Kharkov. Virtually, only Inna Gaponenko from Kherson could have competed with them, however she did not take part in the tournament. It would have been interesting to see our young players - Kateryna Lahno and Anna Muzychuk - with whom we rest our hopes perform in this company, as well as Anna Ushenina, the winner of the under-twenty national championship. Still, either they or their coaches decided, probably, that it is more important for them to participate in the Summer Youth Games that were started in Evpatoria immediately after the end of this tournament. It seems to me that such two important competitions should have been run not in such close succession.
Coming back to the championship review. The pre-start forecasts have been mainly confirmed with, probably, one exception - the 18-year old player Katerina Rohonyan from Nikolaev who became a champion of Ukraine two years ago in Sevastopol. Having won in succession over Alexandrova and Zatonskih in the first rounds, she led the tournament chase together with Vasilevich. Still, she was stopped in the fifth round by Natalia Zdebskaja. The impression was created that Rohonyan prefers to play with the favourites than with the «mere mortals». This conclusion was confirmed by her win over another favourite Tatiana Kononenko in the last round. As a result: 6.5 points and the immaculate third place which is an undisputable success for a young chess-player.
The first place with the 7 points was shared by two rating favourites - Vasilevich and Zatonskih. They achieved these results by various routes. Tanya Vasilevich led the chase from the very first round but decided to avoid risk at the finish. Three draws in the last rounds precluded her from taking the clear first place. The tournament went rather hard for Anya Zatonskih but the high class shows itself as well as a great deal of personality. The 4.5 points gained in the last five rounds made it possible for her to draw up with the leader. «Buchgolz» turned to be higher with Vasilevich who became the champion. The first three winners and Tatiana Kononenko who shared the fourth place achieving 6 points are the candidates to the Ukrainian national team.
It is worth mentioning a young Kharkov player Evgeniya Doluhanova who scored 6 points, shared the fourth place and accomplished the international master norm.
As we mentioned earlier, the men's championship caused much less positive sensations. It was attended by 83 chess-players, including 21 International Masters and 4 FIDE Masters, who represented the Crimea, 21 regions and the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol.
If we consider that the Ukrainian federation comprises 39 GMs and more than 100 International Masters in accordance with the last FIDE rating list, it is hard to say that such composition of the main chess tournament of the country that had become the world team champion last year is satisfactory. As compared with the last year Ukrainian Championship (when in Ordzhonikidze played more than twenty holders of the highest title), only five players out of the starry string chose to participate in Championship-2002. They were: Sergey Fedorchuk (Vinnytsia), Anton Korobov and Alexander Areshchenko (new Kramatorsk dwellers), Vladimir Rogovski (Zaporozhye) - all international masters, and Dmitriy Maximov, national master from Dnepropetrovsk. All they plus, probably, Alexander Zubov, International Master from Nikolaev might have been considered the favourites of the competition.
At first it was Vladimir Rogovski, the winner of the Ukrainian Championship-2000 in Sevastopol, who was at the high end. He became the sure leader after the sixth round having lost just half-point. However, he failed in the seventh round due to his old «malady». Vladimir, as they say, tried to cut it too fat in his game with Korobov where he looked for chances in a somewhat better ending and, eventually, conceded. Having lost to Fedorchuk in the last round, Rogovski dropped out of the race for prizes. The fate of the champion's title has been defined in the next-to-last round during the game between Korobov and Fedorchuk who were the leaders by that time. Many a player would have preferred to avoid risk, but they joined the battle with raised visor. The luck stayed with Anton Korobov who won and happened to be ahead of the followers by one point. A quick draw in the last round had secured his champion title with 7.5 points. The 2nd-4th places were shared by Andrey Sumets from Odessa, Sergey Fedorchuk and Alexander Areshchenko (that was their sequence with the account of additional indices). Besides, the young players could be marked out: Sergiy Zavgorodniy, 1987, an international master from Odessa and Dmitry Kononenko, 1988, national master from Dnepropetrovsk, who scored 6 points each and shared the seventh place.
The referee team headed by Vladimir P. Gergel, an International Arbiter and the Chairman of Referee Board of the Ukrainian Chess Federation, did the job in their usual style - confidently, and without a single protest.
In conclusion, find some speculations about the causes of the men's championship baffle. Regrettably, there are not so many cities in Ukraine that are capable of accommodating a tournament of such caliber. Donetsk company DANKO made plenty of effort to prepare the current world champion Ruslan Ponomariov and it is far too much for it to support the internal activities. A small town of Ordzhonikidze in Dnepropetrovsk Region accommodated twice the strongest chess-players of the country and did it at a very high level, so this year the local organizers took a time-out. And that's about all. Crimean towns of Alushta, Sevastopol and Evpatoria are unable to offer anything except the sun, air and sea. This year the Alushta Health Improvement Centre «Chaika» was announced as the general sponsor of the championship. However, the sponsorship was reduced to a free playing hall and a compulsory accommodation of all the participants within the Centre campus which caused rightful complaints of many players - they might have found rooms in the private sector at mush cheaper price. Hence, the absence of the country leading chess-players who, being professionals, do not wish, quite naturally, to endanger their ratings «for free».
Concerted efforts of all regional chess federations and all chess lovers are required to improve the existing situation, the more so because the interest to chess has increased recently due to the latest successes of Ukrainian chess-players.
Well, what about the situation with the men's team? The same above mentioned decision of the Presidential Council has ruled that the team would include the world champion Ruslan Ponomariov and the world vice-champion Vasyl Ivanchuk. The other places will be filled after the results of the 2002 Zonal Tournament are known. As far as now no information about the place and time of this tournament is available. It is possible that the extraordinary congress of the Ukrainian Chess Federation to be held on 7 June in Kyiv will clarify something. We'll be waiting for its results...
Ukrainian Championship, Alushta, 2-11 May 2002
1. Anton Korobov 7,5/9; 2-4. Andrey Sumets, Sergey Fedorchuk and Alexander Areshchenko 7; 5-6. Nikolai Kushch and Alexander Zubov 6,5; 7-14. Sergey Anapolsky, Vladimir Rogovski, Anatoliy Polivanov, Andrei Rakhmangulov, Sergiy Zavgorodniy, Igor Kobyliansky, Mikhail Simantsev and Dmitry Kononenko 6 (83 participants).
Ukrainian Women's Championship, Alushta, 2-11 May 2002
1-2. Tatyana Vasilevich and Anna Zatonskih 7/9; 3. Katerina Rohonyan 6,5; 4-7. Evgeniya Doluhanova, Tatiana Kononenko, Olga Alexandrova and Olga Dolzhikova 6; 8-10. Lidia Semenova, Kateryna Matseyko and Ava Sulejmanova 5,5 (37 participants).
Ukrainian Women's Championship games (zipped PGN file)
Ukrainian Championship games (zipped PGN file)
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