The Russian Junior Chess Championships for men and women are taking place on 15th-28th April in Loo, right after the Russian Teams Chess Championship finished in the same location.
After five rounds, the open event is led by Muscovite IM Andrey Stukopin and the girls section by Anna Gvanceladze, who is also representing the Russian capital.
Stukopin started slow with two draws, but managed to win three straight games to take the pole position at the equator of the event. His sixth round game will be very important, as he faces rating favorite Vladimir Belous, who is half a point behind in the standings.
Gvanceladze also started slow, actually losing against Dina Belenkaya with the black pieces. However, she was able to recover and get three wins and a draw in the next four rounds.
Andrew Stukopin
Standings after 5 rounds – Open tournament:
| 1 | IM | Stukopin Andrey | 2500 | 4.0 |
| 2 | IM | Artemiev Vladislav | 2499 | 3.5 |
| IM | Belous Vladimir | 2560 | 3.5 | |
| 4 | FM | Gordievsky Dmitry | 2443 | 2.5 |
| IM | Oparin Grigoriy | 2496 | 2.5 | |
| GM | Bukavshin Ivan | 2522 | 2.5 | |
| 7 | Predke Alexandr | 2481 | 2.0 | |
| IM | Pakhomov Egor | 2454 | 2.0 | |
| 9 | IM | Eliseev Urii | 2541 | 1.5 |
| 10 | IM | Chigaev Maksim | 2454 | 1.0 |
Standings after 5 rounds – Women’s tournament:
| 1 | WFM | Gvanceladze Anna | 2183 | 3.5 |
| 2 | WFM | Petrukhina Irina | 2222 | 3.0 |
| 3 | WFM | Suslova Alena | 2194 | 2.5 |
| WGM | Kashlinskaya Alina | 2305 | 2.5 | |
| FM | Pustovoitova Daria | 2269 | 2.5 | |
| 6 | WFM | Belenkaya Dina | 2180 | 2.0 |
| WFM | Rjanova Valery | 2170 | 2.0 | |
| 8 | Petrova Olga | 2238 | 1.0 | |
| WIM | Bivol Alina | 2223 | 1.0 | |
