A chess blitz match was held at the RUSSIA EXPO

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A friendly chess blitz match between the teams of Moscow and Khanty-Mansiysk was held at the RUSSIA EXPO in Pavilion C "Sport for Everyone" as part of the Russian Chess Federation Day. The tournament was held on the eve of the Asian Cities Team Championship, which will be hosted by Khanty-Mansiysk in April.

Alexander Tkachev, executive director of the Russian Chess Federation, addressed the participants of the event and wished good luck to the chess players, noting that the upcoming Asian Cities Championship in April will be the first time the event will be held in Russia.

"Starting April 20, Khanty-Mansiysk will host the Asian Cities Championship for the first time. Indeed, this is a unique event, because since the Russian Chess Federation came under the jurisdiction of the Asian Chess Federation — this is the first event in our country that the Asian Chess Federation has been entrusted to organize and hold in our country," Alexander Tkachev noted.

The executive director of the Russian Chess Federation said that the stand of the Chess Federation will work for three days. The Exposition guests will have an opportunity to play against the only chess robot in the world, which has not lost to anyone yet.

"We will work for three days. A unique chess robot is presented here - the world's only robot manipulator. I can say that it has not lost to anyone yet, including World Champions Vladimir Kramnik, Sergei Karjakin, Yan Nepomnyashchy and others. Anyone can play chess at this venue, either for fun or to take part in tournaments," Alexander Tkachev added.

One of the participants of the friendly blitz match from the Moscow team, thirteen-year-old Artem Uskov told about his path to the chess world.

"I started practicing when I was about five and a half years old. When I started to succeed, I began to train much more, after which I started to make progress. There were some upsetting defeats and difficulties, but I won the World Championship — that's one of my biggest achievements. Last year I became the youngest international master in the history of Russia. I am proud of it!" emphasized Artem Uskov.

The friendly blitz match between the two teams was played in six rounds under the Scheveningen system (each participant played two games with each member of the opposing team). Moscow won with the score 9.5:8.5. At the end of the blitz match all participants of the event received memorable prizes, souvenirs and diplomas of participation. The winners were awarded a cup.