site.btaBeloslava Krasteva Finishes First among Women at European Rapid Chess Championship

Woman Grandmaster Beloslava Krasteva finished first among the women at the European Rapid Chess Championship in Kosovo, winning a prize of EUR 40,000. She scored 7.0 points in 11 games played under the Swiss system with a 15-minute time control and an additional 10 seconds per move, ranking 61st in the open competition.

The champion was Grandmaster Paulius Pultinevicius (Lithuania) with 10.0 points, ahead of Levan Pantsulaya (Georgia) and Daniel Darda (Belgium) who both scored 9.0 points. The best performing Bulgarian male player was Grandmaster Kiril Georgiev, who finished 30th with 7.5 points.

Georgiev ranked second in the over-50s age group, which was won by Vasily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) with 8.5 points.

A total of 374 players took part in the rapid chess tournament.

Georgiev was the best in his age group at the European Blitz Chess Championship, which also took place in Kosovo. There, he ranked 29th in the overall standings with 9.0 points from 13 games, each with a 3-minute time control and 2 seconds added per move. This result put him ahead of Ivanchuk on additional criteria.

The continental blitz champion was Grandmaster Jordan Van Foreest (Netherlands) with 11.0 points, ahead of Eduardo Bonelli (Spain) and Vojtech Plat (Czech Republic), who both had 10.5 points.

Krasteva ranked fourth among the women with 7.5 points (93rd in the overall standings), while Johanna Paasikangas of Finland became the top-ranked woman with 8.0 points.