21 September 2020

Russian Players Win 13 Medals at European Online Youth Championship

Our congratulations!

 
 
The European Online Youth Individual and Team Chess Championship among boys and girls under 12, 14, 16, and 18 years old finished on September 20. The Russian player won 13 medals.

Results:

Boys under 12:

1. Jahandar Azadaliyev (Azerbaijan) - 8 points out of 9, 2. Jakub Seemann (Poland) - 7.5, 3. Ihor Samusenkov (Ukraine) - 7;

Girls under 12:

1. Yana Zhapova - 9, 2. Anna Shukhman - 7.5, 3. Alexandra Shvedova (all from Russia) - 7;

Boys under 14:

1. Volodar Murzin - 8, 2. Ilya Makoveev (both from Russia) - 7.5, 3. Denis Lazavik (Belarus) - 7;

Girls under 14:

1. Aliaksandra Tarasenka (Belarus), 2. Gulenay Aydin (Turkey) - 7.5, 3. Eline Roebers (Netherlands) - 7;

Boys under 16:

1. Rudik Makarian (Russia), 2. Frederik Svane (Germany) - 8, 3. Gleb Dudin (Russia) - 7.5;

Girls under 16:

1. Viktoriia Kirchei, 2. Alisa Nur-Mukhametova (both from Russia) - 8, 3. Pia Marie Ruzic (Slovenia) - 7;

Boys under 18:

1. Andrey Esipenko (Russia) - 8, 2. Casper Schoppen (Netherlands), 3. Arseniy Nesterov (Russia) - 7;

Girls under 18:

1. Aleksandra Maltsevskaya, 2. Elizaveta Solozhenkina (both from Russia) - 8, 3. Laman Hajiyeva (Azerbaijan) - 7. 

The Russians won the team competitions in both sections.  

Mikhail Kobalia, the team's captain and the Head coach of the Russian youth team, shared his impressions from the event: 

- Traditionally, the Russians are domination at the European championships. The online championship is no exception: the Russians won most medals both in the open and the girls' sections. At the same time, the organizers had limited the number of participants from the country; that's why we succeeded by quality, not by quantity.  

As far as all the participants had to play from the so-called official playing venues, we had undertaken a thorough ground organising work and created five centres: here in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, and Nizhny Novgorod. We have been dealing with logistics and various technical issues during the recent months because it was not an easy task to assign 36 players to zones as Russia is enormous. Since the number of participants was strictly limited, we had to hold a qualification match in one of the age groups in order to enter the national team. 

There was constant video surveillance in the playing halls, so the organisers could see what was going on, Zoom with the screen demonstration was switched on on all the laptops, and only arbiters were present in the playing area. In a word, all fair play conditions were observed. Of course, it is easier and more comfortable to play from one's home, but the problem of cheating is very acute the days, so when one knows that everybody is playing fairly, he or she becomes more relaxed and can concentrate on chess only. I think that such practice will be implemented in all major online tournaments, and we should create more such authorized centres, and we are planning to have more of them in the future.    

Tournament on Chess-Results 

Photos by Eteri Kublashvili