The Superfinals of the 72nd Russian Championship and the 69th Russian Women's Championship finished in Izhevsk on August 22. Both events were 11-round all-play-all tournaments.
Scoring 7 points out of 11, Evgeny Tomashevsky wins the Russian Championship Superfinal for the second time, repeating his success of 2015. Nikita Vitiugov, Maxim Matlakov and Ernesto Inarkiev have got 6.5 points each. Vitiugov won the silver medal thanks to his superior tie-break, while Matlakov took the third place.
Final standings:
| 1 | Evgeny Tomashevsky (2706) | 7 |
| 2 | Nikita Vitiugov (2728) | 6,5 |
| 3 | Maxim Matlakov (2710) | 6,5 |
| 4 | Ernesto Inarkiev (2682) | 6,5 |
| 5 | Vladislav Artemiev (2757) | 5,5 |
| 6 | Alexander Motylev (2668) | 5,5 |
| 7 | Alexandr Predke (2650) | 5,5 |
| 8 | Kirill Alekseenko (2668) | 5,5 |
| 9 | Alexey Dreev (2662) | 5 |
| 10 | Vladimir Fedoseev (2671) | 4,5 |
| 11 | Alexey Sarana (2655) | 4,5 |
| 12 | Dmitry Jakovenko (2704) | 3,5 |
Olga Girya and Natalija Pogonina both scored 8 points in the women’s tournament. According to the regulations, they had to play a tie-break for the first place, like last year.
Olga Girya won the first rapid game, but Natalija Pogonina managed to win the second. The rivals had to play a sudden death game, which was won by Olga Girya, who had the white pieces. The grandmaster from Ugra became the Russian women's champion for the first time in her career.
The World Champion Candidate, Aleksandra Goryachkina, took third place with 7.5 points, repeating her last year’s performance.
Final standings:
| 1 | Olga Girya (2462) | 8 |
| 2 | Natalia Pogonina (2457) | 8 |
| 3 | Aleksandra Goryachkina (2564) | 7,5 |
| 4 | Valentina Gunina (2497) | 7 |
| 5 | Margarita Potapova (2335) | 6 |
| 6 | Alina Kashlinskaya (2491) | 6 |
| 7 | Alexandra Kosteniuk (2507) | 5,5 |
| 8 | Daria Charochkina (2352) | 5 |
| 9 | Anastasia Bodnaruk (2429) | 4 |
| 10 | Polina Shuvalova (2419) | 4 |
| 11 | Elena Tomilova (2376) | 3 |
| 12 | Zarina Shafigullina (2332) | 2 |
The total prize fund amounted to 10,000,000 rubles. The winners of the men's and women's tournaments also won brand-new coupe-crossovers Renault ARKANA, which, according to the partnership agreement, became the official car of the Russian Chess Federation in 2019.
The Closing Ceremony was held in the Udmurtia State Opera and Ballet Theatre. Head of the Udmurt Republic Alexander Brechalov, Director of the program Sport of the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation Igor Baradachev and Deputy Executive Director of the Russian Chess Federation Alexander Tkachev made speeches in front of the participants and guests.
Official website: http://ruchess.ru/en/
(Photos: Andrey Pozdeev, Press service of the Head and the Government of the Udmurt Republic)
