The 80th Belarusian Chess Championships were held from 7th to 19th January. The men’s event was a 14-player round robin with the average elo 2456.
The 7th-seed GM Kirill Stupak had a fantastic tournament to take a clear first place with 9 points and earn the title of national champion.
Final standings:
1. GM Stupak Kirill 2505 – 9
2. GM Aleksandrov Aleksej 2578 – 8.5
3-6. GM Zhigalko Sergei 2682, GM Zhigalko Andrey 2619, GM Teterev Vitaly 2507 and GM Kovalev Vladislav 2562 – 8
7-8. GM Maiorov Nikita 2552 and IM Lomako Pavel 2370 – 7
9. WGM Ziaziulkina Nastassia 2386 – 6.5
10. Nikitenko Mihail 2101 – 6
11. GM Lutsko Igor 2343 – 5.5
12. GM Kupreichik Viktor D 2455 – 5
13. Kocheev Aleksandr 2391 – 3
14. IM Smirnov Valerij 2327 – 1.5
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Impressive score.