The first day of the European Blitz and Rapid Chess Championship is over.

The winner, with 18 points, is Sergei Zhigalko from Belarus! The Grandmaster is at the top of the rating list in his country. He has won several National Championships of Belarus. His greatest achievement so far was winning a second place during World Junior Chess Championship. Second and third places were taken respectively by Luke J McShane and Peter Michalik. The result was decided by a tiebreak.

The best Polish player was Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who finished 4^th by defeating the leader of Polish rating lists, Radosław Wojtaszek. The best female player was Olga Zimina from Italy and the Polish female player was Aleksandra Lach. At the closing ceremony awards were presented in age (up to 10, 14, 18 years old and seniors) and rating (1400, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, 2400, 2600) categories.

Detailed results are on the Championship’s website: results

At the closing ceremony we were honored to have the representative of the European Chess Union, Martin Huba and the President of the Silesian Chess Federation, Andrzej Matusiak.

(Click on photo to enlarge image)