After five days of fighting with kings and pawns, the chess tournament at the European Universities games got its champions.
In the women’s tournament, the gold went to Adela Velikić from the University of Belgrade, who won seven matches, drawing only one. She played chess for about ten years and has three caps for the Serbian chess national team.
Baira Kovanova from the Ural State Mining University won the second place, while Jovana Erić from the University of Belgrade came third. Kovanova was in the lead for the first few rounds and many considered her the tournament’s front-runner.
‘I thought she was going to win, but the situation changed in the sixth and the seventh round,’ said grandmaster Alozjije Janković, who was the technical delegate and the organizer of the chess tournament.
In the men’s tournament, the two first places went to the students of the Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture Hovhannes Gabuzyan and Zaven Andriasian, with 8.0 and 6.5 points respectively. Maksim Chigaev from the Ural State Mining University came third with 6.5 points.
Velikić and Erić took the win in the women’s team competition, while Kovanova and Travkina won the second place. Third came Orehek and Leonardi from the University of Ljubljana. Some Serbians surprised, but it is expected they’ll get even better.
‘The Armenians won, as everyone had expected’ said the seventh best grandmaster in Croatia Alozije Janković. They took the gold in the team competition, Ural State Mining University finished second, while the University of Belgrade won the bronze. Vladimir Luković and Miloš Stanković, students of Mathematics, said they missed some chances, but were generally satisfied with their performance.
Adela Velikić and Jovana Erić stated there were many good players at the tournament, and that these European Universities Games were a great experience; Luković and Stanković agreed.
