One-on-One Match Simul

February 19, the 100th birthday of the outstanding grandmaster David Bronstein (1924-2006) was honoured by the Chess Federation of Russia, which organised a One-on-One Match Simul in the Central Chess Club. Six simultaneous games (3 as White and 3 as Black) with Bronstein’s time control of 40 minutes to the end of the game with a 10-second increment per move were played between the three-time World Blitz Champion Alexander Grischuk and the reigning Russian Champion Vladislav Artemiev.

The match session ended with a 3.5-2.5 victory for Vladislav Artemiev: the national champion won on board four as Black, while the other games ended in draws.

After the game, the grandmasters joined Sergey Shipov in the commentary room and shared their impressions of the Match.

At the closing ceremony Alexander Tkachev talked about how the idea of this match had come about. After that, together with the Head coach of the Russian national teams Sergey Janovsky, he awarded the young chess players – participants of the simul with Vladislav Artemiev, which had taken place the day before, on February 18.

Vladislav Artemiev and Alexander Grischuk were rewarded with commemorative gifts, and the winner also received a special cup dedicated to the event.

Director of the CFR Chess Museum Dmitry Oleinikov showed the first film shot by the famous director Eldar Ryazanov – a documentary about the match between Mikhail Botvinnik and David Bronstein.

Vladislav Artemiev said a few words about David Bronstein at the memorial evening. Vice-President of the Chess Federation of Russia Sergey Smagin recalled playing against the legendary chess player at the Moscow Championship and noted Bronstein’s special contribution to the world of chess. Sergey Janovsky talked about getting to know David Ionovich and communicating with him later. The closing speech was given by Igor Burshtein, the inspirer and one of the organisers of the game.