From March 1 to March 8, the Russian Junior Chess Championship was held in Yaroslavl at the conference hall of the Kotorosl Hotel. The event brought together 27 participants from 12 regions of the Russian Federation, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Republics of Crimea, Mordovia, Tyva, Krasnodar Krai, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Chelyabinsk, Ryazan, and Kurgan regions.

Over six competition days, young athletes engaged in intense intellectual battles in individual matches. The tournament followed the Swiss system, consisting of seven rounds, with each game lasting 45 minutes plus an additional 15 seconds per move starting from the first move.

For nearly a week, 17 boys and 10 girls competed fiercely in the conference hall of the Kotorosl Hotel, vying for the chess crown. After seven rigorous rounds under the Swiss system, the competition concluded on March 7, with the strongest players emerging victorious.

Results:

Girls:

1st place - Kira Drugova (St. Petersburg)

2nd place - Alina Osmanova (Republic of Mordovia)

3rd place - Angelina Toyarova ( Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug)

Boys:

1st place - Mikhail Gabdullin (Chelyabinsk Oblast)

2nd place - David Bogdan (Krasnodar Krai)

3rd place - Ilya Prikaznov (Ryazan Oblast)

In addition to individual awards, team classifications were also determined based on the two best results from the junior boys and the two best results from the junior girls.

Team Standings:

1. Rostov Oblast - 54 points

2. St. Petersburg - 36 points

3. Republic of Tyva - 27 points

Semyon Ozerov, Head Coach of the Russian National Chess Team, commented: “The championship was organized at a high level. There were no major surprises at this year’s Russian Championship in Yaroslavl. The leaders demonstrated their class, with the top four juniors maintaining their positions from last year. However, there was some reshuffling among the top three in the junior girls’ category.”

Text: Nurlan Tazhigulov

Photo: Stanislav Kostikov

Translation: Daria Kudelina