The young International Master from Belarus Vladislav Kovalev finished first at the 47th edition of the Ilmar Raud Memorial, which took place on July 1st-7th at the Viljandi Sports Center in Vaksali, Estonia.
Kovalev got a score of 7/9 and edged Finnish IM Mikael Agopov on tiebreaks. A group of four grandmasters had to sit behind their lower titled colleagues after getting 6.5/9 points. Lithuanian GM Aloyzas Kveinys claimed third place on tiebreaks.
The champion had an impressive performance of 2651 points, almost 100 points over his rating, thus getting 11 Elo points for the next FIDE list.
Kovalek also took home the first prize of 1.500 Euros.
The event was played in memorial of the 100th birthday of member of the Estonian team that scored 3rd at the Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires.
Final Standings (top 25):
1 IM Kovalev Vladislav BLR 2558 7
2 IM Agopov Mikael FIN 2429 7
3 GM Kveinys Aloyzas LTU 2479 6.5
4 GM Miezis Normunds LAT 2549 6.5
5 GM Neiksans Arturs LAT 2554 6.5
6 GM Kulaots Kaido EST 2581 6.5
7 IM Sipila Vilka FIN 2423 6
8 GM Kanep Meelis EST 2512 6
9 GM Ehlvest Jaan USA 2623 6
10 GM Volodin Aleksandr EST 2485 6
11 IM Berzinsh Roland LAT 2400 6
12 Bernotas Arturs LAT 2281 6
13 GM Khalifman Alexander RUS 2630 5.5
14 Krupenski Juri EST 2299 5.5
15 FM Shishkov Andrei EST 2375 5.5
16 Dubrovin Robert EST 2197 5.5
17 GM Sriram Jha IND 2437 5.5
18 Valner Uku EST 2215 5.5
19 IM Sepp Olav EST 2442 5.5
20 IM Krivonosov Oleg LAT 2471 5.5
21 Koop Vyacheslav EST 2181 5.5
22 IM Seeman Tarvo EST 2376 5
23 Ladva Ottomar EST 2310 5
24 GM Shvyrjov Igor EST 2461 5
25 IM Lauk Ular EST 2403 5
Very impressive.