A huge event in Kyiv in memory of Grandmaster Malakhatko

The GM Vadim Malakhatko Chess Memorial took place in Kyiv on the second weekend of June. It was a highly notable event by the standards of these days' chess life in Ukraine.

The tournament's main sponsor, TOV Artedium (Dmytro Zagorovskyi), is also publisher of the new Ukrainian chess magazine 64 Shakhovi Storinky (64 chess pages). 

There were more than 120 participants (including five GMs and many masters) in each of the Rapid tournament (June, 8th) and Blitz tournament (June, 9th) which was quite an achievement as such. (Many players came, like myself, from other Ukrainian cities). And it also was a good commemoration for the prematurely passed Ukrainian grandmaster, who lived in Kyiv, even if for many years he represented Belgium in the chess world. 

Top Ten, 10+5 rapid:
1 Skliarov, Viktor IM UKR 2286 - 8 out of 9
2 Dehtiarov, Roman FM UKR 2253 - 7.5
3 Starozhilov, Leonid FM UKR 2270 - 7
4 Budnikov, Oleg NM UKR 2333 - 7
5 Sydoryka, Vladyslav FM UKR 2240 - 7
6 Andreev, Eduard GM UKR 2346 - 7
7 Brodsky, Michail GM UKR 2518 - 6.5
8 Kislinsky, Alexey GM CZE 2315 - 6.5
9 Sergeev, Vladimir GM UKR 2257 - 6.5
10 Stavroyany, Sergey FM UKR 2184 - 6.5

I personally scored in rapid rather badly: 6/9 versus not too strong opposition. 
The success of IM Skliarov who was a director of tournaments is a rare example, in chess, of a superb performance by one of the main tournament organisers.

Top Ten, 3+2 blitz:
1 Budnikov, Oleg NM UKR 2369 - 8.5 out of 11
2 Brodsky, Michail GM UKR 2473 - 8.5
3 Maliutin, Oleksandr NM UKR 2215 - 8.5
4 Trushko, Andrii NM UKR 2364 - 8.5
5 Sergeev, Vladimir GM UKR 2312 - 8.5
6 Golubev, Mikhail GM UKR 2334 - 8
7 Podolskyi, Mykhailo CM UKR 2233 - 8
8 Skliarov, Viktor IM UKR 2299 - 8
9 Dehtiarov, Roman FM UKR 2260 - 8
10 Lymar, Vladislav CM UKR 2174 - 8

...Vadim Malakhatko suddenly died last year, on 5th June 2023, aged 46. 
In 2001, while still representing Ukraine, Malakhatko, as the 2nd reserve of the national team, became a winner of the World team championship, scoring 2.5/3: technically it was the biggest achievement of his career. Though, indeed, as a quite strong grandmaster (his peak rating was 2633 in 2008) Vadim won a lot of events. Lately, Malakhatko had been deeply involved in the chess life of Kyiv, organised many tournaments and had serious further plans. His death came as a great shock to the Ukrainian chess community and to his many friends in other countries.

          Vadim Malakhatko's mother at the opening ceremony

           The main playing room

          Denis Shykyravyi vs Golubev (blitz)

          Closing - rapid

          Closing - blitz

          Closing - blitz (women's prizes)

There was no live transmission of the games. Some games, reconstructed by players, probably will be published in the 64 Shakhovi Storinky magazine.

In order to provide in this blog a related chess content, I include my previously unpublished selection of 20 games of the Malakhatko online blitz Memorial, which was organised last year, on 14th June 2023. All games from this internet tournament are available in big databases, but I hope that a selection makes sense as well: 

My wife Lyudmila accompanied me on this trip to Kyiv, one of our rare, these days, trips out of our city. (Photo: between rounds...)

 
Other photos in this article are by: 64ShakhoviStorinky (FB), Elena Boric, Oleksandr Shykyravyi, Lyudmila Zakharova.

Links:
TWIC
Chess Results - rapid 
Chess Results - blitz 
Youtube