BCF complaint vs. Zurab Azmaiparashvili and Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou

On 1st May in the Sochi hotel Zhemchuzhina [Pearl - Ed] the national club championships started, the biggest mass chess event in Russia. In the annually-changing club line-ups, this year we have not just stars, but superstars.

Our photo correspondent Mikhail Sholudko decided to join with the proletariat of all countries and this is what happened. 

Anatoly Karpov's main place of work these days is an office at the State Duma, and nowadays people are as interested in his political opinions as in his views on chess. The match taking place in Riga against Evgeny Sveshnikov is one of few possibilities to see the twelfth world champion in the environment one has been used to seeing him in for decades.

In Chavki, 98 players are competing for the European Women's Championship. The opening ceremony was covered by Sofiko Nikoladze.  

An unusual situation: two world team championships starting on the same day in different corners of the world. The best women's teams are in China, and the best men's in Armenia. What distinguished the opening ceremonies of these two events? Which was shorter, which was prettier? Judge for yourselves, with the aid of photos we have taken from the official sites: chengdu2015.fide.com (author - Anastasia Karlovich) and tsaghkadzor2015.fide.com (author unknown).

When I started to prepare this report, I saw the appalling news from Moscow. It destroyed my wish to describe the closing ceremony of the third Grand Prix stage. I hope the readers will excuse me for this.

The pictures are expressive enough so that you will probably need no hints to get the impression of how the Tbilisi stage finished.

Chairman of Appeal Сommittee at the Women's European Championship, Fiona Steil-Antoni, went for a walk around Chakvi yesterday evening. She was accompanied by the player most discussed at the tournament so far, Mihaela Sandu.

In Geneva, the first final of the inter-schools championship "Chess for All" has taken place. The event was organised by the Neva Foundation, run by Gennady and Elena Timchenko. 

A direct flight from Moscow brought FIDE President to Ganja at around 15.00 local time. Chief organizers of the Vugar Gashimov Memorial - directors of Synergy Group company, and head managers of the Azerbaijan Chess Federation - were waiting for him in the VIP hall.