Pavel Ponkratov and Anastasia Bodnaruk are New Russian Blitz Champions

Team competitions are ahead.

The Russian Blitz Championships among men, women and seniors were played in the Grand Hotel Zhemchuzhina in Sochi on October 17. 

GM Pavel Ponkratov became the Russian blitz champion having got 12.5 points out of 15. Boris Grachev is second with 11.5 points. GM Aleksandr Shimanov won bronze having scored 11 points and edged out GM Sergei Rublevsky, IM Sergey Savitskiy, and GM Artyom Timofeev. 

IM Anastasia Bodnaruk won gold in the women's championship - 11.5 points. WGM Natalija Pogonina is half a point behind. WGM Elena Tomilova (3rd place), WIM Ekaterina Murashova (4th place), and Evgenija Sukhareva (5th place) got 10.5 points. 

IM Evgenij Kalegin became the Russian blitz champion among seniors (11 points out of 13). IM Evgeni Dragomarezkij (2nd place) and GM Oleg Nikolenko (3rd place) are half a point behind. 

WGM Galina Strutinskaia took the first place in the senior women's tournament with 14 points out of 15. WIM Nina Sirotkina is second with 12.5 points. WIM Ilena Krasenkova won bronze with 11 points scored. 

Tournament on Chess-Results

The Russian Rapid Team Championships will start in Sochi on October 18. 

Tournament page

Photos by Vasily Papin