The end of the year – joyful and hopeful (photo gallery of 29.12.2022.)
The season of 2022 ended for us with three events at once: a simultaneous game session with Guntis Valneris was held, the last stage of the “Draughts League-2022” was held, and, as usual, the most important final of the youth competitions – the final of the ‘Chameleon-2022/2023’ tournament in Russian draughts.
The celebration was a success! We express our gratitude to the ‘Jõgeva’ club and its director Ular Poom, as well as to the coach and ‘engine’ of this club Arno Uutma. We also thank the Pashkov family from Salaspils, as well as Anna Pashkova personally, for the wonderful, delicious and original cake! We say ‘thank you’ to Guntis Valneris for finding the time and attending our tournament, as well as for the skill lesson for young talents! We sincerely say ‘thank you’ to the founders of the ‘Avotu 51’ team and personally to Arkady Berson, Yakov Levin, Oleg Malyugin and Elizaveta Zakharova for their desire to play draughts staying out of politics and beyond speculations! For excellent work, dedication and support of his students, as well as for the title of the best coach of the ‘Chameleon’ tournaments in 2022 we would like to thank Uldis Abeltinsh! For a wonderful mood thanks to our photographer Anastasia! We express our gratitude to Evert Rudolf Lepsis and his parents, and Valdis Krauklis, as well as to all the parents who support us – from Valmiera and other cities of Latvia, Siauliai (Sabaliauskas family), Estonia.
Those, who we have forgotten to mention, please, know that we remember everyone and wish you warmth and love in the New Year!
And in general the year was successful. We managed to start a new project “Draughts League-2022” and bring it to the end. Thanks to the coaches Iosif Rachko and Ilmar Vysotskis, competitions resumed in Daugavpils. So the region is alive, while the coaches are alive! It was possible to establish cooperation outside Latvia with draughts players from different countries. There will be new projects and, possibly, a new Big tournament.
In the meantime… the story of a Joyful Day in photos:
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7 finalists of the ‘Chameleon’ tournament and two players from the ‘Draughts League-2022’ dared to fight with Guntis Valneris. The two-time world champion, three-time world junior champion and 17-time Latvian champion had a hard time. Despite the comic nature of the session, it was not possible to win all the games. |
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The youngest participant of the session Daria Drabova and the most experienced participant of the session Uno Plakk played a draw with the grandmaster. Unlike Ostap Ibragimovich Bender (the hero of the famous work), draughts were not stolen from the grandmaster’s board and the games were played with patience.
But it is worth noting that Guntis played classic Russian draughts with both opponents, which were unusual for him. |
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Robert Grishin is one of the most experienced players of the ‘Chameleon’ tournament. He has participated in our tournaments for all 8 seasons. He is a two-time ‘Chameleon’ tournament champion. The calmest of all the participants. In the photo on the left, Robert is out of the game, and in the photo on the right – in the game. |
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Denijs Wilhelm Krauklis has helped the ‘Chameleon’ team a lot this season. He always responds to our tournaments, is a certified judge (practically the only active judge in the structure of the federation known to us).
Despite the boycott of our competitions by draughts players from Bauska, together with his faithful friend Everts Rudolfs Lepsis, he continues active tournament practice and is ready to help everyone. Denijs on the left is smiling and elegant. Denijs on the right is thoughtful. |
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The winner of our tournament is Peteris Kripans from Valmiera.
Always focused on winning, extremely concentrated during the game; in life like all strong people he is kind and sympathetic, with a good sense of humor. |
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The tournament director’s name is Vsevolod. When the second Vsevolod appeared, the name itself was supposed to contribute to the victory in our tournaments.
Vsevolod the Second sometimes justifies our hopes. The four-time ‘Chameleon’ tournament champion was the first to reach the level of 350 points! So far, he is the only member of the ‘Chameleon-350’ club. |
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They say that a student becomes like his coach after a few years of training. When we looked at Algo Laidvee, we immediately figured out his student!
They look similar, don’t they? )))) |
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Vakare Sabaliauskaite (“Dubysa”) |
And let’s not forget about the beautiful girls at the ‘Chameleon-2022/2023’ final, who have not yet been mentioned.
Varvara Ivanova (Bolderaja) |
Eliise Korgesaar (“Jõgeva”) |
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The ‘Dubysa’ team became the ‘Draughts League-2022’ champion, despite the fact that they played the last stage with an average result. It is worth noting that the ‘Dubysa’ team used the largest number of players and only two players remained from the initial application. In the photo (from left to right): Vaidas Stasitys, Arunas Bučinskas, Rokas Banevičius, Matas Sketerskas, Jore Sketerskaite
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The winners of the “Draughts League-2022” are:
The second place was taken by the team ‘Avotu 51’, led by its captain and organizer Arkady Berson. The most stable team in terms of composition, which a month before the last stage of our tournament won the Latvian championship in international draughts. In the photo (from left to right): Yakov Levin, Arkady Berson, Maygonis Yukhnevich, Elizaveta Zakharova.
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The third place was taken by one of the youngest and most promising teams of the tournament ‘Jõgeva’. Without changing the composition and strictly following the application, the team gave almost all young players to play, led by their captain and inspirer Arno Uutma.
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