Romanian Lehel Vrencian grabbed the winner’s trophy at the FIDE World Amateur Chess Championship 2013, which was played in Iasi, Romania, from 21th April (1st round) to 30th April (9th round).
Vrencian obtained 8 points in the 9 rounds played. Aron Teh Eu Wen from Malaysia got the same score but fell short on tiebreaks.
The huge field created big groups of players tied with the same score. No less than 12 participants finished on 7/9. Mongolian Erdenepurev Boldoo was the lucky one to finish third. Full standings below.
There were monetary prizes given. In the general section: 1500 EUR, 1200 EUR, 1000 EUR, 700 EUR, 600 EUR, etc. For the women: 500 EUR, 400 EUR, 300 EUR, etc.
An astounding 207 players signed up to participate, representing 37 different countries. Besides the local players, the biggest squad arrived from India – 11 players from the Asian country are participating.
Last year winners were Haralambos Tsakiris and Laura Perez
Impressive!