3 April 2021

Pavel Ponkratov Becomes Winner of Chelyabinsk Variation-2021

Big chess festival finished in the capital of the Southern Urals.


The Chelyabinsk Variation chess festival finished in the capital of the Southern Urals on the last day of March. The event included two tournaments: A (with the international norms) and B (open). The main tournament featured 25 grandmasters, seven women's grandmasters, and 21 international masters. All in all, both tournaments were attended by 143 players from 10 national federations.

Grandmaster Pavel Ponkratov became the winner of the A tournament, having scored 7.5 points out of 10. Eight players shared 2-9 places with 7 points. Thanks to the superior tiebreak, the international master Andrey Drygalov took second place. Grandmasters Igor Lysyj and Anton Shomoev split third place with an absolutely identical tiebreak. 

The women's grandmaster Alina Bivol showed the best result among women (6.5 points). IM Polina Shuvalova and WGM Olga Girya scored 6 points each. 

Denis Kozlov (1st place), FM Andrei Matsenko (the Czech Republic, 2nd place), and Daniyal Sapenov (Kazakhstan, 3rd place) won medals in the B tournament with 8 points out of 10. Marianna Toledo Flores became the best female player with 6 points. 

Tournament on Chess-Results

Photos by Natalia Lastochkina