From May 10 to 12, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute hosted the Ukrainian Chess Championship among university students. This is the first tournament of this level in many years. It was initiated by Kyiv polytechnics and supported by the Ukrainian Chess Federation, the Committee for Physical Education and Sports of the Ministry of Education and Science, and the NGO Kyiv Chess Federation.
🖺
The place for the chess battles was the NTB smart shelter. It is worth recalling that at the end of March, a chess tournament for employees of the capital's universities was held in the NTB's smart shelter "CLUST Space" - it, to a certain extent, became a test for further holding of such competitions. Both then and now, the smart shelter proved to be very convenient for holding chess tournaments, especially since the competition was not interrupted by air raids, as it was held in the shelter.
Chess players from 10 teams of Ukrainian universities competed for the title of champion. Due to the war in Ukraine, the tournament was mostly attended by universities from the capital. It is worth noting that the teams consisted mainly of masters of sports, FIDE masters, candidates for master of sports and first-rate players.
The chess competitions lasted three days, the results have been summarized, and the winners have been announced. In the team rapid chess competition, the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute team had the best result, followed by the chess players from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (KNU), and the third place went to the team from Dnipropetrovs'k region. The KPI team also won the blitz competition, with the team from Dnipropetrovs'k region coming in second and the KNU chess team taking third place. In the overall team competition, the team from Kyiv Polytechnic became the champion, the second place went to the team from Dnipro region, and the third place went to the team of students from KNU.
In the individual men's competition, Andriy Trushko from Kyiv University of Construction and Architecture won in both categories - rapid and blitz. Nazar Laptiy from the Institute of IPSA of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute took the third place in the men's competition in the category of rapids. Among women, Ulyana Yeshchenko, a student of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute of IATE, won in both programs. Yulia Kravets, a student of the HTF of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, took the second place among women in the blitz category.
The winners received diplomas, cups, medals, memorable souvenirs, and the winner of the individual competition among men received a book with an autograph and wishes from the legend of Ukrainian and world chess - Vasyl Ivanchuk. The teams that won the 1st and 2nd places in the championship were eligible to participate in the next European University Chess Championship.
According to Ihor Stepaniuk, one of the organizers of the chess competition and chairman of the university's student trade union, "holding a tournament of this scale is a serious bid by our university to become a chess center not only in Kyiv but also in Ukraine. We have both the resources and people who care about it."