4 October 2022

Sergey Ionov Wins Russian Senior Rapid Championship

Irina Mikhaylova excels in the women's event.


The Russian Senior Rapid  Championships were held in the Olympic Reserve Chess and Checkers Sports School in Saint Petersburg on 3-4 October.

Grandmaster Sergey Ionov won the open event, having scored 8 points out of 10. GM Yuri Balashov is half a point behind him. IM Evgenij Kalegin (3rd place), Vladimir Ponfilenok (4th place), and GM Valery Loginov (5th place) got 7 points each. 

The women's tournament was won by WGM Irina Mikhaylova, who scored 7.5 points and edged out Tatiana Ivanova. WGMs Tatiana Bogumil and Galina Strutinskaia shared 3-4 places with 7 points; Bogumil became the bronze medallist thanks to her superior tiebreak. 

The championships will be concluded with the blitz competitions on 5 October. The tournaments are 11-round Swiss events. 

The Russian Senior Championships are organised by the Physical Culture and Sports Committee of St. Petersburg, the Chess Federation of Russia and the Sports Chess Federation of St. Petersburg.

The general sponsor of the championship is Gazprom. The CFR general partner is PhosAgro. The tournament's partner is Aeroflot.


About Gazprom

Gazprom is a global energy company focused on exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and sales of gas, gas condensate and oil, sales of gas as a vehicle fuel, as well as generation and marketing of heat and electric power.

Gazprom holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves being the global leader in gas production. The Company actively implements large-scale gas development projects in the Yamal Peninsula, Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, as well as a number of hydrocarbon exploration and production projects abroad. 

Gazprom supplies gas to domestic and foreign consumers. The Company is among the top Russian oil and gas condensate producers and owns large generating assets in Russia.

The Company is committed to supporting public social projects by providing assistance to cultural, scientific and educational activities and promoting healthy lifestyles.









Photos by Karina Lekomtseva