Belarus Chess Championships are now under way and continues through till January 19th. With the fourth round’s conclusion, IM Vitaly Meribanov and GM Vladislav Kovalev are in the lead, with 3 points each. They have also achieved 2 victories and two ties so far, giving them the best tiebreakers in the group. All other players are at least half a point behind the two leaders.
The Belarus Chess Championship Men Finals for 2016 feature 14 of Belarus’s best playing in the capital city of Minsk. The top seed is GM Sergei Zhigalko (2655). The tournament is a Round Robin format with 13 rounds.
| Rank after Round 4 (men) | ||||
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | |
| 1 | IM | Meribanov Vitaly | 2398 | 3.0 |
| 2 | GM | Kovalev Vladislav | 2538 | 3.0 |
| 3 | GM | Stupak Kirill | 2529 | 2.5 |
| 4 | GM | Aleksandrov Aleksej | 2596 | 2.5 |
| 5 | GM | Maiorov Nikita | 2572 | 2.5 |
| Kocheev Aleksandr | 2358 | 2.5 | ||
| 7 | GM | Zhigalko Sergei | 2655 | 2.0 |
| 8 | GM | Fedorov Alexei | 2563 | 2.0 |
| 9 | Savitski Andrei | 2185 | 2.0 | |
| 10 | Harshkou Mikita | 2303 | 2.0 | |
| 11 | GM | Zhigalko Andrey | 2598 | 1.5 |
| 12 | Terzi Alexei | 2311 | 1.5 | |
| 13 | FM | Stetsko Lanita | 2285 | 0.5 |
| Nikitenko Mihail | 2396 | 0.5 | ||
The women section has also begun. The first round is over and Nastassia Ziaziulkina, Ekaterina Kasperovich and Ekaterina Bogdan are the leaders, scoring a victory. The female tournament is also a Round Robin event, but with 9 rounds.
| Rank after Round 1 | ||||
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | |
| 1 | IM | Ziaziulkina Nastassia | 2405 | 1.0 |
| Kasperovich Ekaterina | 2000 | 1.0 | ||
| Bogdan Ekaterina | 2065 | 1.0 | ||
| 4 | Kusenkova Natallia | 2164 | 0.5 | |
| Badelka Olga | 2067 | 0.5 | ||
| Kaliadzich Maryia | 2113 | 0.5 | ||
| Prakapuk Vera | 1897 | 0.5 | ||
| 8 | Revo Tatiana | 2043 | 0.0 | |
| WFM | Beinenson Katsiaryna | 1996 | 0.0 | |
| Uzlavataya Anhelina | 2092 | 0.0 | ||