27 November 2010
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Call me the Russian National Champion again: GM Alisa Galliamova
You can find great photos of the champion at www.chesspics.com
Hello Everyone,
Grandmaster Alisa Galliamova has become the Russian women’s national chess champion for the second time after beating Natalija Pogonina in the speed chess tie-break in Moscow on Saturday.
Galliamova drew the first blitz game as White but won the second one with Black as her e pawn took her home to the championship title all the way to the seventh rank!
The last two rounds at the Russian Women’s Superfinal lived up to the excitement that we witnessed throughout the tournament. In the penultimate round, Tatiana Kosintseva and Nazi Paikidze drew level with defending champion Alisa Galliamova to notch up a total score of 6.5 points each.
This happened because Tatiana beat Olga, Paikidze drew with Nadezhda and Galliamova lost to Gunina in the ninth round.
But the last round witnessed further ups and down like every round has. The eleventh and the last round ended with three players tied at 7 points. This happened because Galliamova and Tatiana drew their match while Paikidze lost to Nebolsina. On the other hand, Shadrina lost to Pogonina.
The three-way tie witnessed a blitz tie-break between Galliamova and Pogonina to decide the champion. Tatiana took the third place.
Final standings after Round 11
1-2. Pogonina, Galliamova 7
3. Kosintseva, Tatiana 7
4. Paikidze, Nazi 6.5
5. Kosteniuk, Alexandra 5.5
6-10. Gunina, Nadezhda, Shadrina, Nebolsina, Anastasia 5
11. Girya, Olga 4.5
12. Matveeva, Svetlana 3.5
You can find all the great games, photos and other details at the official website of www.russiachess.org.
Congratulations to Alisa Galliamova for a fine victory. Congratulations to all the lovely women who participated in this tournament, who gave us such exciting chess and who make Russia such a strong chess nation.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk’s
Also see her personal blog at
