The Moscow Open, RSSU Cup Director Alexander Kostiev told the editor of the site Eldar Mukhametov about the additional events, organized in the frames of the festival: seminars, master-classes, and the forthcoming FIDE and ECU Commissions meetings.
- Maybe we can talk about the recognition of our achievements and activity as for the first time in the history of the Moscow Open three FIDE and ECU Commissions will meet in Moscow to discuss the strategy of the further development.
First of all, it’s the FIDE Competitions’ Commission, responsible for all the FIDE tournaments, with the exclusion of the World Championships and Olympiads, that’s why it’s a very important Commission. It forms the calendar, evaluates bids to host tournaments, its representatives carry out inspection visits – usually it’s done a year, and sometimes two years before the start of the respective competition. This Commission is chaired by the former President of the European Chess Union Boris Kutin from Slovenia. He’s been the guest of our festival for many times.
The Chairman of the FIDE Chess in School Commission Kevin O’Connell (Ireland) and the Chairman of the recently created ECU Chess and Education Commission Jesper Hall from Sweden will visit us this time. The European Chess Union Secretary General Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou, who opened our festival, will also be present.
The Commissions’ meetings are always very intense. This time only two days are assigned for the work. These gentlemen will also take part in the Ceremony Closing of the children’s and adult tournaments.
- Tell us about the seminars, organized within the frames of the festivals, please.
As for the program of seminars, it’s constantly increasing. Now it’s considered to be an additional program, maybe in some point it’s even composed on the spur of the moment.
The famous specialists were the speakers of our coaches’ seminar: Mark Dvoretsky, Alexander Nikitin. The famous children’s coach Mikhail Kislov read two lectures to parents.
The referees’ seminar is organized almost every year. We invited Takis Nikolopoulos to conduct the first seminar. After that Andrzej Filipowicz and other famous arbiters visited us. This time the seminar was conducted by Alexander Tkachev, Artem Akhmetov was his assistant. We had so many attendees wishing to take part in the seminar that we even had to change a room for a more spacious one.
I myself will conduct the organizers’ seminar. We will teach organizers of tournaments, held in Russia. Very often people think that it’s very simple: as if it were enough just to find money and organize a tournament. And in practice there are so many details to be taken into account, starting with accommodation and meals. The organizers have to know all of them, otherwise it will be a low-level tournament. The points for the international organizer title will be awarded according to the results of the seminar.
This time the Chess in School seminar will be held in the form of discussion and exchange of views. Famous specialists will also speak and share their experience. For example, Sergey Abramov will tell us about his computer programs; Igor Sukhin, Vitaly Poloudin, Elvira Umanskaya and people representing different regions as Yugra, Tomsk and other places, will also come.
Next year we plan to strengthen the organization and will schedule the conduction of the theoretical and practical conference.
- What changes will chess experience in the RSSU?
- Now the RSSU has as the new rector, so as a new vector of the development of the chess education and sport in general. Natalia Borisovna Pochinok supports the chess in the RSSU, but she also encourages its development. The Chess House is in the process of creation, there is a highly-equipped facility for the organization of the competitions that can accommodate 400 people. It’s a big step forward for the chess of the capital.