14/4/2013 - It was close, both in the open and the women,s sections, with match point ties for first, and both winners taking gold by just 1,5 game points. Key was Alexander Grischuk,s win on the black side of an instructive Spanish against Ian Nepomniatchi, while in the women,s a topsy turvy win by Ekatrina Atalik against Alexandra Kosteniuk did not change the final result
The 20th Russian Team Championships took place from April 7th to 13th 2013 in Loo, which is part of the city of Sochi, one of the southernmost places of Russia. The teams had 88 grandmasters, 26 of whom sported ratings of 2700 or higher, included GMs, like Sergey Karjakin, Fabiano Caruana, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alexander Grischuk, Alexander Morozevich, Vassily Ivanchuk, Peter Svidler, Peter Leko, Gata Kamsky and Dimitri Jakovenko.
The open section was won by SPb Chess Fed (above), which represents the Chess Federation of St. Petersburg and fielded GMs Peter Svidler, 2747, Nikita Vitiugov, 2712, Leinier Dominguez Perez, 2723, Sergei Movsesian, 2695, Zahar Efimenko, 2697, Vadim Zvjaginsev, 2658, Ildar Khairullin, 2660 and Maxim Matlakov, 2653. The average rating was 2706. The second placed club Malakhit Chess Club had a rating average of 2738 and was the top seed in the event.
The tournament came down to the wire as SPb Chess Fed led the tournament by one match point going into the final round. However, with every team fielding a near 2700 rating average, any result was possible. PGMB Rostov held their own in boards one through five drawing every game while their sixth and last board, Ivan Popov, dealt an important blow to SPb Chess by defeating Matlakov and giving the match to Rostov. Top seed Malakhit needed to win their last round match against SHSM "Nashe Nasledie" Moskow to come out with first place

News source: chessbase.com
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