Tallinn hosts European Draughts Championship, with Belarusian men’s team taking bronze

By Yegor Glebov

Tallinn hosts European Draughts Championship, with Belarusian men’s team taking bronze, thanks to international grand masters Yevgeny Vatutin, Alexander Bulatov and Sergey Nosevich

The Belarusian players’ 69 points brought them a bronze medal in the classic category, behind Russia in first place, and the Dutch team in second. 
 
In the individual ‘classic’ event, Yevgeny Vatutin did best of our Belarusians, finishing 20th. Across nine rounds, he gained 11 points, while Alexander Bulatov, with 10 points, came 22nd. Sergey Nosevich also claimed 10 points, but finished 27th, due to additional indicators.

Olga Fedorovich did best among our Belarusian women, coming 8th in the ‘classic’, with 11 points. This takes her through to China for the 2015 World Championship.   

In the ‘blitz’ matches, the Belarusian squads failed to claim any medals: Sergey Nosevich took 22nd place in the individual competition; while Vladislav Valyuk was 52nd; Alexandra Spirina came 15th; and Anastasia Barysheva 27th. In the team competition, the men finished 8th and the women 6th.  

The recent European Championship in Tallinn was the first to gather such strong players — as ranked by the World Draughts Federation: 118 participants, including 30 international grand masters.