Sveshnikov and Krauze become the First Dice Chess Champions in Latvia

The first Latvian Dice Chess championship turned out to be quite an impressive event both in terms of the number of participants and the intrigue and excitement of the game. The prize pool for the first such tournament was also considerable – EUR 1,300.

Ninety-two people spanning from three countries (Latvia, Poland and India) participated in the competition in “Hotel Jūrmala Spa” in Jūrmala – this number of participants could even be envied by some classic chess tournaments. Participants included chess Grandmaster Toms Kantāns, International Masters Vladimirs Svešņikovs and RolandsBērziņš, FIDE Masters Matīss Mustaps, Valdis Troņenkovs and Iļja Semjonovs, and Woman International Master Anna Kantāne from Poland.

In order to establish the first champion, a total of 12 double rounds (two games with each opponent) or 24 games were played. The official time control was 5 minutes per game plus 5 seconds per move for each participant.

After two-thirds of the six-hour tournament was played, luck and mastery brought Ivo Saksis to the leading position, with 14 points out of 17 at the time. However, he did not manage to complete the rest of the championship so successfully, continuing with four straight losses, putting him out of contention for the title.

The great finish was achieved by the President of the Dice Chess Federation and the organizer of the competition Vladimir Sveshnikov – 9 victories from the last 10 games. A total of 19 out of a possible 24 points was more than enough to seal the victory and become the first Latvian champion of this sport in history.The closest follower Artis Alainis scored a total of 17 points, and third place winner Maksims Golubovskis with a total of 16 points. The same score was achieved by Saksis who finished fourth, and Emils Tabors taking fifth place. Behind them, seven players finished the tournament with 15 points, but with better tie-break scores, and thus the final place in the Olympic Six, was earned by Kumar Surja (India).

Anda Krauze became the first Latvian women’s champion of Dice Chess, with second and third places going to Marija Kuznetsova and Anna Kantane.

Youth prizes (in order of places) were received by Iļja Semjonovs, Kirill Bogdanovičs, Edmunds Vanags and Anastasija Parhomenko, while the best among the seniors was Uldis Melderis. The youngest competitors were Luiss Kantāns (5 years old) and Valērija Ločmele (10 years old).

The organizers thank the supporters “Sanpellegrino”, “Brain Games” and “Hotel Jūrmala Spa”, as well as judges Alberts Cimiņš, Sergejs Pavlovs, Aivars Laizāns and Matīss Mustaps.

The final championship results can be viewed here: chess-results.com. And you can also watch the Latvian championship games in videos available on youtube.com.

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