The Russian Higher League, the 4th stage of the 68th Russian Men's Chess Championship and the 65th Women's Championship, is to take place in Kaliningrad from June 21st till July 2nd as part of the Chess in Museums international program implemented by the Russian Chess Federation together with Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation. The men's tournament participants include former FIDE World Champion Alexander Khalifman, Europe Champions Evgeniy Najer and Alexander Motylev, 1998 Olympic Champion Vadim Zvjaginsev and the winners and medalists of many tournaments Maxim Matlakov, Ernesto Inarkiev, Vladimir Malakhov and Sanan Sjugirov, as well as young and ambitious players such as Daniil Dubov, Vladimir Fedoseev, Vladislav Artemiev and Ivan Bukavshin, who became the Russian Junior Champion in 2015. For the first time in the Higher League's history, the men's tournament will feature a woman: Olympic Champion Olga Girya.

The women's tournament will also be the battleground for many famous players, such as the European Championship's bronze medalist Alina Kashlinskaya, Vice-World Champion Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, the well-known sports journalist and head of the TTC Ostankino chess club Elmira Mirzoeva, and the young talents, winners of many children's and junior championships of Russia, Europe and the world Anna Styazhkina and the 12-year-old Aleksandra Maltsevskaya, the Higher League's youngest participant.

The competition's grand opening will take place on June 21 in the unique fortification monument Fort No. 5, which was built in the late 19th century. The ceremony will be preceded by a tour around the fort for the guests and journalists, as well as two exhibitions brought from Moscow: Chess in the War Years 1941-1945 from the collection of the Museum of Chess and Our Chronicle, showing the Soviet Union's history in the war years through people's lives and provided by Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation. The project's participants are elderly people who share their memories sincerely. This is a photo exhibition about the fates of the generation that lived through the war ― true stories told by the survivors.

The ceremony will feature welcoming remarks by officials from the Kaliningrad Region, the Russian Chess Federation and Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation.

The opening will be followed by laying flowers at the obelisk erected in memory of the Soviet heroes who stormed Königsberg.

The tournament itself will be held at the Baltica hotel. It will be played in 9 rounds according to the Swiss system.

Time control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. The players are allowed to be late for the beginning of a game by no more than 15 minutes. The participants are forbidden to offer draws until after move 40.

Total prize fund: 5,000,000 roubles.

The athletes who take the 1st to 5th places are entitled to participate in the Superfinals of the 68th Russian Men's Chess Championship and the 65th Russian Women's Chess Championship, respectively.

Play days: June 22―26 and June 28 ― July 1. June 27 is a day off. All rounds start at 16.00 Moscow time.

A children's program will be organized on the free day, June 27. The Museum of the World Ocean will host a simultaneous exhibition for 50 young players. In the museum's lobby, visitors will see the exhibition Chess in the War Years 1941-1945 from the collection of the Museum of Chess and Our Chronicle organized under the auspices of the Elena And Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation. When the simul is over, the children and the guests will be able to visit a unique aquarium and research ship Vityaz thanks to the support from the administration of the Museum of the World Ocean.

The tournament's official website: - http://ruchess.ru/