Shtembuliak and Zhukova are the 2019 Ukrainian Champions.
Evgeny Shtembuliak and Natalia Zhukova are the 2019 Ukrainian Champions!
Evgeny Shtembuliak, who is only 20 years old, became World Junior Champion in September this year. He wins the solid Ukrainian championship scoring 7 points out of 9.
Both Natalia Zhukova and Lulija Osmak scored 7/9, but the tiebreak criteria was in favour of Zhukova.
This year’s edition marked the 88th Ukrainian Men’s Championship and the 79th Ukrainian Women’s Championship.
Interesting chess facts about Ukraine.
Ukraine has 64 Grandmasters and 14 Women Grandmasters!
The Ukrainian Chess Federation was registered in 1991.
Ukraine has played in 14 Olympiads from 1992. They have won one gold, three silver and three bronze medals as a team in the Olympiads.
Mariya Muzychuk is the highest rated lady player in Ukraine with a rating of 2559. Her sister Anna Muzychuk who is a former World Champion is the second-rated player at 2537.
Sergey Karjakin and Kateryna Lagno used to play for Ukraine but now play for Russia.
Vassily Ivanchuk is the highest-rated player in Ukraine with a rating of 2690. The 50-year-old Ivanchuk is one of the most popular chess players in the world.
Below is one of Vassily Ivanchuk’s most interesting games against Garry Kasparov. All of Kasparov’s pieces are still on the first rank at the end of the game!
Vassily Ivanchuk v Garry Kasparov
Kasparov Ivanchuk
Interesting facts on Ukraine.
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe.
Kyiv is its capital and largest city.
Kyiv is at least 1,400 years old. It gets its Ukrainian name, Kyiv, from the eldest brother of the family who founded the original settlement. His name was Kyi.
The national flag of Ukraine has blue and golden-yellow colours.
The golden-yellow symbolises fields of wheat and the blue represents the sky, mountains, and streams of Ukraine.
Ukrainian is its official language. Its official currency is Ukrainian hryvnia (₴) (UAH).
The Crimean Peninsula, on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It is a source of continuing international tension.
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 occurred at a reactor in the Ukrainian town of Pripyat, about 100 kilometres north of Kyiv.
Hagia Sofia Cathedral in Kyiv is a world heritage landmark. It dates back to the 11th Century and was built by Ukraine’s original Kievan Rus founders.
Ukraine’s national day is 24th August. It was the date in 1991 when the country issued its Declaration of Independence.
The statue of Motherland dominates Kyiv. It is 62 metres high and is a woman holding a sword and shield aloft. It is part of a World War II museum project which takes up much of the city centre.
Ukraine has 11 officially recognised languages other than Ukrainian. These include Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian and Yiddish.
Almost half of Ukraine’s domestic energy comes from nuclear power.
