5 July 2021

Pavel Ponkratov Wins Russian Championship Higher League

Maksim Chigaev is second, Aleksandra Goryachkina is third.


On the 5th of July, the Higher League of the 74th Russian Championship and the 71st Russian Women's Championship finished in Cheboksary. Five best players of each tournament qualified for the 2021 Russian Championships Superfinals.

Having scored 7 points out of 9, Pavel Ponkratov (Moscow) became the winner of the open event. Maksim Chigaev (second place, Tyumen region) and Aleksandra Goryachkina (third place, YaNAO) are half a point behind. Aleksandr Rakhmanov (Vologda region) and Alexander Motylev (Moscow) also got spots in the Superfinal with 6 points scored. 

Aleksandra Goryachkina has become the first female player in history to qualify for the Russian Championship Superfinal. 

Marina Guseva (Moscw region) is triumphant in the women's tournament. The winner scored 8.5 points our of 9. Second-fourth places were shared by Anastasia Bodnaruk (Saint Petersburg), Daria Voit (Moscow), and Evgenija Ovod (Leningrad region) - 6.5 points. Alina Bivol (Moscow) is on the fifth place with 6 points. 

Photo album by Anastasia Domchenkova

Tournament on Chess-Results

Tournament page

Photos by Anastasia Domchenkova