site.btaBulgarian Entrants Place Outside Top 30 at World Rapid Chess Championship

Bulgarian chess players placed outside the top 30 at the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships held in New York December 26-28. 

Nadya Toncheva placed highest, in 36th place, in the women's tournament on 6 points in 11 rounds.

19-year-old Toncheva scored two points in the final three rounds on Saturday, beating Uurtsaikh Uuriintuya of Mongolia and drawing with Irina Bulmaga and Liwia Jarocka.

On 5.5 points, Gergana Peycheva remained in 58th place. On the last day of the tournament, she also scored two points after victories over Almira Skripchenko (France) and Inga Charkhalashvili (Georgia), but in the final round she lost to Pauline Guichard of France.

Beloslava Krasteva finished in 88th place on 4.5 points, adding 1.5 points on the third day of the championship.

In the men’s event, Ivan Cheparinov remained in 70th place on 7 points in 13 rounds. The Bulgarian grandmaster had 7 points after the 11th round and had a chance to make it to the top 20, but in his last two games he lost to Brandon Jacobson of the US and Vasif Durarbayli of Azerbaijan. 

18-year-old Russian Volodar Murzin claimed the title on 10 points. Alexander Grischuk and, Ian Nepomniachtchi, also from Russia. finished second and third on 9.5 points each.

Humpy Koneru became champion in the women’s event for the second time, scoring 8.5 points. China's Ju Wenjun finished second on 8.5 points and Kateryna Lagno from Russia finished third on 8 points.

After a day off, the blitz tournament will be played on Monday and Tuesday.