From 12 to 15 December, the Open Cups of the Republic of Belarus in swimming and chess were held almost simultaneously in Gomel and Brest. The national team of Russia, led by senior coach Maria Buiniakova, participated on the swimming lanes of the Aquatics Palace. The competitions were held in two age categories: from 2007 and younger and from 2006 and older.

Our swimmers traditionally showed a high level of skill, winning 74 medals, 29 of which were gold. We would like to pay special attention to the medallists who won more than three victories in individual events, for example: Alexander Diatlov was the best in all breaststroke events. Elizaveta Barbatina showed excellent results in two events of complex swimming and one breaststroke. Ekaterina Denisova and Mark Troshin were the strongest in all backstroke events.

Three teams from the Moscow, Saratov and Rostov Oblasts competed in the mixed relays from Russia. The Moscow team won two golds and one silver, while the Saratov Oblast team claimed one silver and two bronze.

Swimming final results can be found here.

On the same days, the Open Cup of the Republic of Belarus in chess was held in Gomel, in which the Russian national team took part. Our team included chess players from nine regions of the Russian Federation: the Voronezh, Moscow, Rostov, Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk Oblasts, the Republics of Crimea and Mordovia, and the cities of Moscow and Sevastopol. A total of 54 athletes from Russia and Belarus took part in these intellectual competitions.

In classical chess, our athletes swept the podium.

Women:

1st place – Iuliia Turkeeva (Sverdlovsk Oblast)

2nd place - Natalia Kudriavtseva (Sverdlovsk Oblast)

3rd place - Olga Gerasimova (Sverdlovsk Oblast)

Men:

1st place - Andrei Onishchenko (Moscow)

2nd place - Roman Pogoskin (Moscow)

3rd place - Linat Shaiakhmetov (Republic of Bashkortostan)

Text: Maria Mazhenina, Nurlan Tazhigulov

Photo: Elizaveta Barbatina, Sergei Pedko, Chess Website

Translation: Daria Kudelina