The republican chess tournament “Gargždams-769” continues the traditions

On November 20, the traditional rapid chess tournament “Gargždams-769” took place in the excellent hall of the Vēžaičiai community. As early as 1993, the leaders of the district Sports Center, Gargždai borough and the chess club “Mintis” had the idea to organize a republican chess tournament (then “Gargždams-740”). That idea was so contagious that it has continued for three decades.

The number of participants is increasing

This year, a record number of participants gathered for the competition – as many as 141 (49 representatives of our district, including the children of BĮ Sports Center and members of the club “Mintis”, as well as 92 guests from various parts of Lithuania). The fact that 6 masters of sports arrived, and the ratings of 11 participants were over 2,000 is indicative of the level of the competition.

At the opening of the competition, Raimondas Simonavičius, Chairman of the Education, Culture and Sports Committee of the Klaipėda District Municipal Council, and Vaidas Liutikas, Director of the Klaipėda District BĮ Sports Center, were delighted with the success of the project. After their wishes, the head of the competition. referee IA Donatas Vaznonis from Kaunas announced the start of the competition.

The 11-year-old performed well

Quick chess was played, 9-round Swiss system, with 10 minutes for each participant. + 5 sec. after each walk. We saw many beautiful and persistent fights. FM Pijus Stremavičius, the representative of Kaunas “Gajos” sports school, won, having scored 8.5 points out of 9 possible. His teammate Pijus Greičius was one point behind him, he is second. Even 5 chess players scored 7 points each. They were divided by coefficients in the following order: 3. Gleb Pidlužnij (Klaipėda), 4. Tomas Povilaitis (Šiauliai), 6. Sergej Drozdov (Klaipėda), Lukas Bagvilas (Radviliškis) and Andrej Katalov (Klaipėda district).

9 representatives of our district were among the first 50 chess players. It is worth noting the excellent performance of our young talent, eleven-year-old Dominyks Kušlikis. He scored 6 points out of 9 possible, his Rtg. raised as many as 92 points, won the final 21st place, was second among all ours, and first among all U12s. In 34th place was Žygymantas Staponas (5.5 points, Rtg.+23), in 35th place Vytautas Riauka (5.5 points, Rtg. + 45), in 37th place Tomas Alsys (5.5 points), In the 41st Gediminas Radzevičius (5.5 points), in the 44th Dovydas Spevak (5 points, Rtg.+13). Even 5 of our chess players fulfilled the rating requirements for the first time.

Our youngsters are unbeatable

The first team of Klaipėda “Bokšto” (G. Pidlužnij, S. Drozdov, Rostislav Ščekačiov, Olga Beliajeva) won in the team standings. The young chess players of Šiauliai sports center “Dubysa” were in the second place, and the “Radvis” team of Radviliškis was in the third place. The first team of Klaipėda district was in tenth place, Klaipėda district. The SC junior first team is in thirteenth place, and the SC junior first team is in fourteenth place. A total of 37 teams were classified. In the junior competition (born in 2004-2009), the first junior team of our district Sports Center (Ž. Staponas, D. Spevak, Domas Andrijauskas and Jorė Balčiūnaitė) was in third place. And here among young people (born in 2010 and younger) ours had no equal and won. The team was represented by Dominykas Kušlikis, Auksė Zonytė, Šarūnas Juknius and Matas Valaika. It is worth noting that the increased rating of all members of this team in the tournament reached as many as 269 points (Dominykas +92, Auksė +81, Šarūnas +76 and Matas +20). It’s something unreal.

The winners of several other categories were announced. Among women, Olga Beliajeva (Klaipėda) was the strongest, among veterans 60+ Sergej Drozdov (Klaipėda), among 75+ Gintautas Barščiauskas (Šilutė district). The entire U12 winners’ podium went to the following: 1. D. Kušlikis, 2. A. Zonytė, 3. Š. Juknius The oldest participant in the competition was 84-year-old Petras Mitkevičius (Gargždai), the youngest participant is also ours – six-year-old Adelė Zonytė.

Thanks for your help

Traditional thanks to all contributors. The executors of the project were the Klaipėda District Municipality JV Sports Center together with the chess club “Mintis”. The project was sponsored by the municipality administration of Klaipėda district. UAB “Simetra LT” (director Arvydas Mickus), UAB “Kečas” (director Vaidas Mitkevičius), businessmen Vytautas Riauka, Diana and Arvydas Žiūros, club members and parents of students – Robertas Mockus, Daiva Dieninė, Alvida Antužienė, Rima Dadūraitė, Saulius Balčiūnas, Algirdas Varnagiris, Darius Alekna, Sigitas Karbauskas, pastor Stanislovas Anužis and many others. A great community of chess lovers in the area, without whose contribution it would be difficult to do anything.

Special thanks to the information sponsors (the newspaper “Banga”, the portal “Mano Gargždai”, other sources) and the members of the Vēžaičiai community, who were always around and took care of all issues.