20 December 2015
Ivan Popov Wins European Rapid Championship
The chess marathon finished in Minsk.
The European rapid championship in Minsk gathered more than 750 players. Russian grandmaster Ivan Popov won the gold medal, scoring 10 points out of 11.
Hrant Melkumian (Armenia) finished second with 9.5 points. A large group of players finished with 9 points – Vadim Razin (Ukraine), David Navara (Czech Republic), Ilya Smirin (Israel), Tigran Petrosian (Armenia), Markus Ragger (Austria), Klementy Sychev (Russia), Alexei Fedorov (Belarus), and Nikita Matinyan (Russia). Razin was awarded the bronze medal.
Olga Girya, Anastasia Bodnaruk, and Nina Sirotkina all scored 8 points, showing the best result among women. Yury Balashov collected 8.5 points and became the best among seniors. All four players represent Russia.
