INTERNATIONAL CHESS EVENTS

Team Belfast in Saint Petersburg, Russia

SAINT PETERSBURG v BELFAST

Location: The Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

str. Bryantseva, d. 24, Saint Petersburg

August 18-25, 2017

4 rounds of classical chess. 12 players per team. A total of 48 points available.

Match result: Saint Petersburg (31) v Belfast (17)

  Team Belfast departing from Belfast City Airport

Front entrance to the Winter Palace/Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg

Team Belfast at the Winter Palace/Hermitage Museum, in Saint Petersburg

Team Belfast at the grand staircase of the Winter Palace/Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg

Team Belfast enjoying a guided tour of the Shermetev Palace/Museum of Music in Saint Petersburg

Opening ceremony at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky, Saint Petersburg

Team Belfast at special opening ceremony at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky, Saint Petersburg

Dexter Harris and Adam Fitzsimons at the opening ceremony of the match, Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky, Saint Petersburg

Speeches at the opening ceremony of the match at the Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky, Saint Petersburg

WGM Dina Belenkaya (2334) delivering a speech at the opening ceremony for the match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky, Saint Petersburg

Opening ceremony performance at the Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky, Saint Petersburg

Opening ceremony performance at the Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky, Saint Petersburg

Round 1 of Saint Petersburg versus Belfast at the Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Team Belfast:

MATCH REPORT

On Friday 18 August 2017, twelve players from Belfast travelled to Russia for an exciting week long chess trip. Located in the North East of Saint Petersburg, the Kalininsky Sports School hosted the international chess match, an event that was planned over the past 8 months by Mikhail Pavlov (1795) and Brendan Jamison (1747). The staff and coaches at Kalininsky were extremely warm and friendly and they presented a fun-filled week of chess activities for Team Belfast.

The opening ceremony saw a number of short speeches from the sports minister, the Director of the school and several key members of staff. Mikhail and Brendan spoke of their excitement at the first ever match between Belfast and Saint Petersburg and how the city itself is one of the most beautiful places in the world. They also highlighted the importance of the international friendships that can develop and their shared vision for continued strong links into the future. Hopefully Belfast will be able to find a way to host a group of players from Saint Petersburg in 2018.  

The match was split into four classical rounds of chess, one per morning from Sunday to Wednesday.  The afternoons were dedicated to other chess activities, ranging from a GM Simul, a rapidplay tournament and a blitz. The match was played at two locations, the first at the chess school, the second at a chess summer camp in the forest of Roshchino village on the outskirts of the city.

On top of the chess programming, Mikhail and Brendan also arranged visits for Team Belfast to become immersed in the cultural life of the city. Highlights included trips to the opulent Winter Palace/Hermitage Museum, a breath-taking a cappela concert at the Philharmonic Hall, a tour of the Shermetev Palace/Museum of Music, a canal cruise and a Europa League football match which saw  Zenit Saint Petersburg win 2-0 against FC Utrecht from The Netherlands.  

Sunday 20 August 2017:

Round 1 saw an award-winning performance by Board 1 Mikhail Pavlov (1795) who defeated Dmitry Fraiman (2307) in just 21 moves following an intelligent combination of sacrificial chess. Other notable wins came from Ross Harris (1682) over Sergey Lyazhkov (1844), Daniil Zelenchuk (1514) defeated Sergey Senin (1345) and Adrian Dornford-Smith claimed victory over Alina Kapustina (1117). Meanwhile, Mark Newman (1679) drew with Andrey Novitsky (1544) and Dmitry Zelenchuk (1391) picked up half a point against Anastasia Vershinina (1476). After an extremely close opening round, congratulations were offered to the super strong Russian team who secured 6 wins bringing their total to 7 points in round 1, leaving Team Belfast with 5 points after the first day.

The afternoon was devoted to a 17 player simultaneous with WGM Dina Belenkaya (2334). She was allocated 80 minutes on the clock to each participant’s 40 minutes. Team Belfast delivered some excellent results which included wins by Barney McGahan (1090) and Daniil Zelenchuk (1514), draws by Dexter Harris (907) and Brendan Jamison (1747) and the last man standing award went to Ross Harris (1682) for an impressive one-on-one GM battle at the end! The final score saw Dina scoop a spectacular 14 points, with Team Belfast walking away with 3 points!         

Monday 21 August 2017:

The mini-bus collected the team on Monday morning and travelled 90 minutes North West of the city to a forest summer camp beside the village of Roshchino.  Round 2 introduced a 90 year old FIDE Master onto Board 1, FM Alexsandr Rutman (2038) who has only dropped a few hundred rating points from his peak FIDE rating in the 2400s! This inspirational legend proved too sharp to defeat and sadly Mikhail was unable to defend his ferocious attacks. However, other members of Team Belfast managed to pick up points against their Saint Petersburg rivals. Ross Harris (1682) took his first win with Black against Dmitry Golovanskikh (1523), Mark Newman (1679) defeated Mikhail Solovyov (1392), Daniil Zelenchuk (1514) beat Dmitrii Zhivotovskii (1289) and two draws were picked up by John Bradley (1663) against Anzhelika Petrova (1463) and Edward Khanzharov (1413) against Artem Pakhomov (1233). In total, Team Belfast scooped 4 points, with Team Saint Petersburg walking away with 8 points from Round 2.

The afternoon saw a fun 5 round swiss rapidplay tournament with each of the 38 players enjoying 15 minutes on the clock. Not surprisingly, FM Alexsandr Rutman (2038) won the summer camp championship with 4.5/5. However, joint second place was shared between 5 players, of whom two were from Belfast, Brendan Jamison (1747) and Daniil Zelenchuk (1414), both scoring 4/5. The tie-breaks left Brendan as the winner of the gold cup with his 3 wins and two draws.  

Tuesday 22 August 2017:

Round 3 in the forest camp was the toughest yet for Team Belfast. Only father and son duo Daniil and Dmitry were able to secure wins and Ross, Mark and Adrian picked up draws. It was an emphatic victory for Team Saint Petersburg who scooped a total of 8.5/12. Thankfully the afternoon was gentler on the nerves as players raced to the playing room for a 9 round blitz tournament with 38 players. The event was won by Filip Rudovskii (1680) with 8/9 while Daniil Zelenchuk (1514) was awarded the second place cup for 7.5/9 and FM Alexsandr Rutman (2038) came third with 6.5/9. Other notable scores by Belfast players included Brendan Jamison (1747) and John Bradley (1663), both finishing on 6/9, just half a point behind the top 3.

Wednesday 23 August 2017:

Returning to the Kalininsky Chess School for round 4, team captain Brendan Jamison made small switches to the board order in a last ditch attempt to win the final round! Placing Mark Newman (1679) as White on Board 2 against Ilya Tarasov (2132), Jamison slipped to Board 4 to defeat Sergey Lyazhkov (1844), but on Board 3 Ross Harris (1682) had to endure the fearsome FM Alexsandr Rutman (2038). Meanwhile on Board 1, Dmitry Fraiman (2307) was determined to punish Mikhail Pavlov (1795) for defeating him in round 1! With such strength at top and bottom of the boards, Team Saint Petersburg looked completely unstoppable! But a hero emerged on Board 12 when 8 year old Adam Fitzsimons (798) defeated M. Andreev (===). Then on board 6, Daniil Zelenchuk (1514) beat Mikhail Ivanov (1439) to chalk up the perfect score of 4/4 in his classical games. John Bradley (1663) drew with Andrey Novitsky (1544) on board 5 and Dmitry Zelenchuk (1391) claimed a strong win over Anastasia Vershinina (1476). In the end, Team Belfast had improved their points since the day before, this time ending on 4.5/12. Congratulations to Saint Petersburg for winning the match with a total of 31 points to Belfast’s 17. Hopefully on the return leg, we can mount a stronger challenge when the Russians travel to Northern Ireland.

In conclusion, the trip was filled with so much fun and laughter. Everyone enjoyed the magical buzz from all the mental gymnastics of such high-standard chess, coaching and development for the future. Without doubt, the entire group had one of the best weeks of their lives and our sincere thanks to the kindness of our Russian friends for making us feel so valued and so welcome, in particuar to WGM Dina Belenkaya (2334) and chess coach Sergey Kotsuba. Their abundance of positive energy made everyone love every moment of the experience! 

Round 1 of Saint Petersburg versus Belfast at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Dexter Harris preparing to open with White in Round 1 of Saint Petersburg versus Belfast at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Barney McGahan listens to the announcements before the beginning of Round 1 in the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Ross Harris (1682) is about to open with White against Sergey Lyazhkov (1844) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Adam Fitzsimons (798) is about to defend with Black against D. Ogai (1193) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Dexter Harris (907) is about to open with White against A. Klemntiev (1126) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Mikhail Pavlov (1795) is White on Board 1 against Dmitry Fraiman(2307) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Mikhail Pavlov (1795) is White on Board 1 against Dmitry Fraiman(2307) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Ilya Tarasov (2132) is White on Board 2 against Brendan Jamison (1747) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Ilya Tarasov (2132) is White on Board 2 against Brendan Jamison (1747) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at the Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at the Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Adrian Dornford-Smith (1098) is White on Board 9 against Alina Kapustina (1117) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Dmitry Zelenchuk (1391) is Black on Board 8 against Anastasia Vershinina (1476) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Youth supervisor and photographer Brian Fitzsimons during Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at the Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Adam Fitzsimons (798) defending as Black against D. Ogai (1193) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Ross Harris (1682) is White against Sergey Lyazhkov (1844) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Mark Newman (1679) is Black against Andrey Novitsky (1544) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

John Bradley (1663) is White against Mikhail Ivanov (1439) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

D. Ogai (1193) as White against Adam Fitzsimons (798) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

WGM Dina Belenkaya (2334) observes the match at the Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky, Saint Petersburg

WGM Dina Belenkaya (2334) observes the match at the Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky, Saint Petersburg

Edward Khanzharov (1413) is White on Board 7 against A. Pakhomov (1233) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Daniil Zelenchuk (1514) is White on Board 6 against S. Senin (1345) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at the Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Dmitry Zelenchuk (1391) is Black on Board 8 against Anastasia Vershinina (1476) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Dexter Harris (907) is White on board 11 against A. Klemntiev (1126) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Edward Khanzharov observing the game between Dmitry Zelenchuk (1391) as Black on Board 8 against Anastaciia Vershinina (1476) in Round 1 of the Saint Petersburg versus Belfast match at Youth Sports Schools of Kalininsky

Brendan Jamison (1747) draws in the 17 player GM Simul against WGM Dina Belenkaya (2334) in Saint Petersburg

Ross Harris (1682) as the last man standing in the 17 player GM Simul against WGM Dina Belenkaya (2334) in Saint Petersburg

Team Belfast at the forest summer camp of Roshchino village on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg

Players begin taking their seats for Round 3 of the rapidplay tournament at the forest summer camp of Roshchino village on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg

Round 3 of the rapidplay tournament at the forest summer camp of Roshchino village on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg

Players begin taking their seats for Round 4 of the rapidplay tournament at the forest summer camp of Roshchino village on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg

Mikhail Pavlov (1795) is the number 2 seed in the blitz tournament at the forest summer camp of Roshchino village, situated on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg

Ross Harris (1682) rises to Board 1 in the blitz tournament at the forest summer camp of Roshchino village, situated on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg

FM Alexsandr Rutman (2038) draws with Daniil Zelenchuk (1514) in the blitz tournament at the forest summer camp of Roshchino village on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg

Brain Fitzsimons (===) defends as Black against Adrian Dornford-Smith (1098) in the blitz tournament at the forest summer camp of Roshchino village on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg

The two teams of Belfast and Saint Petersburg at the forest summer camp of Roshchino village on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg

WGM Dina Belenkaya (2334) presents the awards at the end of the week. Pictured here, Brendan Jamison collects his cup for 2nd place in the rapidplay tournament at the summer chess camp in Roshchino on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg

Team Belfast in the Saint Petersburg metro

Team Belfast at breakfast in Saint Petersburg

Team Belfast on a river cruise through the canals of Saint Petersburg. Left to right: Dexter Harris, Edward Khanzharov, Daniil Zelenchuk, Ross Harris and Brendan Jamison

Team Belfast arrive early at the football stadium to watch Zenit Saint Petersburg play FC Utrecht in the Europa League

Team Belfast watching Zenit Saint Petersburg defeat FC Utrecht in the Europa League

SPONSORSHIP

During Spring 2017, a series of successful fund-raising tournaments allowed a contribution towards the flight costs for the 4 children travelling to Russia. A total of £600 was split into 4 travel awards of £150 each to Adam Fitzsimons (8), Dexter Harris (8), Daniil Zelenchuk (14) and Edward Doak (17).  We then received some additional private donations and a generous £150 business sponsorship from Language Training Solutions which enabled us to contribute towards the child visas which are extremely expensive at £130 each so we greatly appreciate the added help with these costs.

Left to right: Danny Roberts and Joanne Ritchie from Language Training Solutions presenting an award of £150 to organiser Brendan Jamison with two of the children representing Belfast in a chess match against Saint Petersburg in Augsut 2017, 8 year old Dexter Harris and 13 year old Daniil Zelenchuk.

Director of CHESS NI Brendan Jamison states that "we offer our sincere thanks to Daniel Roberts and Joanne Ritchie from Language Training Solutions who share our passion for the educational merits of a cross-cultural chess match in Saint Petersburg, interweaving the role of play and creativity with learning new language skills and improving communication techniques. When chess players from around the world move to Northern Ireland and have little grasp of the English language, many begin their integration process by joining our local chess community. We get extremely excited by players from overseas who join us at Belfast tournaments as they greatly enrich the cultural life of the city. In recent years, we have welcomed players from China, India, Egypt, Russia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary and The Phillipines. Hopefully this trend will continue and expand over the next decade as Belfast enjoys a rebirth as a vibrant cosmopolitan city."

Please visit our business sponsor's website:

KIROVSKY NEW YEAR TOURNAMENT

Kirovsky District Chess School, Saint Petersburg, Russia

January 7-10, 2017

Format: 9 round classic

Northern Ireland chess players Mikhail Pavlov and Brendan Jamison travelled to Russia in early January 2017 to play in the Kirovsky New Year Tournament. The Kirovsky District Chess Academy has over 1200 members and the duo played in the highest grading band (Section A) which contained 106 players upto grading 1900. Despite missing the first two rounds because they were flying into the city that day, Pavlov still scored an impressive 5.5/7, winning a trophy for highest placed international player. Meanwhile, Jamison ended on 5/7, the second highest scoring international player, and he was awarded a certificate.

Brendan Jamison and Mikhail Pavlov outside the playing venue for the Kirovsky New Year Tournament, January 2017

Brendan Jamison is Black in his first round game against 14 year old Mikhail at the Kirovsky New Year Tournament, 7 January 2017

Trophy Winner Mikhail Pavlov collects his award for the highest score by an international player at the Kirovsky New Year Tournament, January 2017