A lot of chess news came out of Moscow last week, but hardly of the bright sunny kind. The central figure in the new developments was former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, who could have been attending the Russian chess championship. However, as a bitter opponent of the regime of President Vladimir Putin and a constant critic of the latter’s civil rights record, Kasparov was interested in the trial of three young ladies, members of the punk rock band Pussy Riot, who were accused of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.” Kasparov had been standing outside the courthouse, hoping to enter the court and hear the verdict. He never got the chance as before the sentence was announced, police charged the spectators, grabbed Kasparov and several others and whisked them away to jail.

Another world chess champion in distress would be 75-year-old Boris Spassky, Bobby
Fischer’s famous opponent. Early reports declared that Spassky, after a recent stroke, had been hospitalized in France. He was later taken home and isolated by his wife from the outside world.

Meanwhile, the 65th Russian Championship, a 10-player round robin, continues with Sergey Karjakin, Peter Svidler, and Alexander Grischuk, among others, competing. In this stellar field, draws were the most frequent occurrences as there were only 10 wins out of a total of 81 games. At the end of the event, six players – Karjakin, Svidler, Dimitry Jakovenko, Dimitry Andreikin, Vladimir Potkin, and Evgeny Alekseev were tied for first, with 5.0-4.0 scores. To break this tie, a rapids (15 mins +10 second) round robin tournament was held. The final victor was the 22-year-old 2010 world junior champion Dmitry Andreikin with a 4-1 score.

Brevity: Stastny v. O Duras (1902) 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.Nf3 Bc5 4.0–0 d6 5.c3 Bg4 6.Qb3 0–0 7.Ng5 Qd7 8.Qxb7 h6 9.Nxf7 Rxf7 10.Bxf7+ Kxf7 11.Qxa8 Bh3 12.Kh1 Qg4 13.Rg1 Bxg2+ 14.Rxg2 Qd1+ 15.Rg1 Qf3+ 16.Rg2 Bxf2 17.h4 Qh3+ 18.Rh2 Qf1; #

Winners: Boylston $10 Open, 1st, Chris Chase, 4-0, 2d, Hal Terrie, 3.5; Metrowest Independence Day: 1st – 3d, Jonathan Yedidia, Vadim Martirosov and Mika Brattain, 4-1.

Coming Events: Metrowest Memorial Swiss: Sept. 4,11,18, and 25, 90 Oak St., Natick, info
request@MetroWestChess.org; Boylston Thursday. Night. Swiss: Sept. 6,13, 20, and 27 and BCC Quads, Sept. 8, 240B Elm St., Somerville www.boylstonchessclub.org.