Russian Grandmastesr Anton Demchenko today became the European Chess Champion, finishing the 11 rounds with 8,5 points. He secured the win with a draw against Bogdan-Daniel Deac in the last round. Meanwhile, one of his competitors, Vincent Keymer, caught up by winning against Daniele Vocaturo. Demchenko however had better tiebreaks having played near the top for most of the tournament. He is therefore the 2021 champion!
Demchenko’s win was deserved and he is the first sub-2600 player to win this tournament, quite the feat! It should be mentioned though that his peak rating was 2679!
The fight for the top 23 was fierce and wasn’t decided until the very last games.
