August 16, 2021 – The largest chess festival “RTU Open 2021” in Northern Europe ends with the victory of the grandmaster of the German national team Alexander Donchenko. This year, the international chess festival organized by Riga Technical University (RTU) celebrated its tenth anniversary, bringing together world chess masters and amateurs who played seven tournaments in various disciplines in nine days.
A. Donchenko joined the festival at the last minute and had the highest rating in the tournament. However, the start of the tournament was not successful for him – only one victory and one draw in three rounds. Winning the last six games, he was the only one to score 7.5 points and win the main prize, says the organizer of the festival, the director of RTU Sports Center Egons Lavendelis.
In second place is the Grand Master of India Narayanan S.L., and in the third – the international master from Lithuania Tomas Laurušas. Among the representatives of Latvia, the highest results were shown by the grandmaster of the Latvian national team Igors Kovalenko, who was the leader before the last round. The loss in the last round prevented him from retaining the lead, finishing the tournament in sixth place. Grandmaster Normunds Miezis ranks 14th, Grandmaster Nikita Meškovs 25th, and Kristaps Kretainis 31st.
Margareta OIde from Estonia won the ladies’ competition. Detailed A tournament results ej.uz/RTUOpenA
Latvian players showed great success in the B tournament, the first three are Lauris Laimiņš, Renārs Osis and Nikolajs Katišonoks. Results – ej.uz/RTUOpenB
In turn, the first two places in the C and D tournament are occupied by Spanish chess players Eyo Castro-Rial Alberto a Cruz Alvarez De Ron Dan, but in third place Aleksandrs Brikers from Latvia. Results – ej.uz/RTUOpenCD
Latvian players Agnis Mednis, Anastasija Parhomenko, Maksims Andrjušins also take all the first three places in the E tournament. Results – ej.uz/RTUOpenE
RTU Open 2021 hosted four classical chess tournaments – the main or grandmaster tournament, the combined amateur and youth tournament, as well as two amateur weekend tournaments, bringing together a total of 365 chess players. In addition, there were two fast games and one fast chess tournament. Latvian Grandmaster I. Kovalenko and Indian Grandmaster won in fast-paced tournaments Praggnanandhaa R, who achieved international success in chess at a very early age, but in a fast chess tournament – the grandmaster of India Puranik Abhimanyu.
Thanks to the financial support of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), this year we managed to increase the prize fund of the festival to 26.5 thousand. euro.
The anniversary chess tournament took place from August 7 to 15 at the International Exhibition Center in Kipsala. Covid-19 Due to the pandemic, this year it happened without the presence of spectators, but the games could be watched live. The festival was organized by RTU and the Latvian Chess Federation. It was supported by RTU, FIDE, Riga City Council Education, Culture and Sports Department and Baltic Law Offices.
RTU Public Relations Department
