The 2025 Belarus championship in Russian draughts will be held from 23 January to 2 February 2025!

The 2024 champions of Belarus were masters of sports Artyom Tikhonov and Emma Savras!

The 2023 champions of Belarus were Igor Mikhalchenko and Viktoria Nikolayeva!

You can download the games of the 2023 Belarus championship at this link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TyX52GQ_Ro5SpB-CaMsLoLnpf3pOJ6e2/view?usp=sharing

On 24 May 2019 the Belarus championships in draughts-64 for men and women began in Minsk.

The tournament regulations can be seen here

Analysis of the games with Edeon-Profi will appear as the games come in, on the website of the Belarusian draughts federation

2019 Belarus championship in Russian draughts

Andrey Valyuk – Sergey Sadovsky, round 1. Game one 1-1

Video of game 1 — watch it here

XXVII – 22
1. g3-h4 d6-c5 2. f2-g3 f6-e5 3. e3-d4

Black to move. That is the opening drawn between these friends and rivals
3… c5:e3 4. d2:d6

Black’s position is worse and Black has to equalise.
Black faces a difficult choice: which way to capture?
4… e7:c5
The other capture is more common: 4… c:e5, and Edeon-Profi’s game database contains 22 games with it:



5. c1-d2
The grandmaster decided to wait one move in order to get a completely new game.
More often the black flank is attacked at once with 5.cb4, and in the superbase of 182 books, in B. Vinogradov’s book on the 8th correspondence world championship, the game K. Savchenko – L. Rizberg is given: 5… gf6 6. b:d6 c:e5 7. gf2 bc7 8. bc3 fg7 9. cd2 ef4 10 10. g:e5 f:b2 11. a:c1 hg5 12. h:f6 g:e5 13. ab2 de7 14. bc3 cd6 15. de3 bc5 =

5… g7-f6 6. c3-b4 c7-d6

7. b4-a5 d6-e5
Black plays correctly by the standard; it would be interesting to check the unconventional plan suggested by Edeon involving 7…bc7
8. a5:c7 b8:d6 9. b2-c3 a7-b6 10. d2-e3

Despite the bad piece on a1, White has put Black in a difficult position, because the pin on the flank with ef4 is threatened!

10… f8-g7 ?
Black has made the flank safe from being pinned, since 11.ef4 would be met by 11…fg5 =
But Black lost the psychological duel: the pin on the flank should not have been feared and 10… ba5 ! should have been played, and after 11.ef4, as grandmaster Yuri Kirillov advises, 11… fe7, and White is forced to walk into a combination — see grandmaster A. Valyuk’s forcing line below.

(After the match grandmaster A. Valyuk showed a forcing line that he had worked out, or knew, even before the game: 11. ed2 fe7 12. ef4 dc7 13. ab2 hg7 14. gf2 hg5 15. f:f8 ed4 16. c:g7 ef6 17. g:e5 d:f4 18. g:e5 cb6 19. f:b4 a:b8 20. hg5 be5 21. ab4 e:a1 22. bc5 b:d4 23. gf6 a draw

11. a1-b2! d8-c7
Black has built columns.
11…ba5 changes nothing and likewise forces Black to work for a difficult draw, as will be seen in the notes below.
12. g3-f4?
For 8 minutes Andrey Valyuk calculated hard in this position, and, tempted by this strong move, let slip the big advantage he could have obtained after 12.ed2 !! ba5! The only move (The exchange 12… ed4 loses at once
13. c:e5 f:f2 14. g:e3 de5 because of 15. ef4! cd6 16. hg5! and there is no salvation for Black, for example 16… cd4 17. dc3 de3 18. f:d2 h:f4 19. de3 f:b4 20. a:a7! x )
13. ef4! cb6 14. de3! ed4 15. c:c7 b:d8 16. bc3 dc7 17. gf2

Very interestingly, Edeon-Profi reports that with colours reversed the position has transposed to the game V. Svizinsky – A. Valyuk from the top league of the Belarus championship of the distant year 1996!
17… cd6 ! Only this!
(In the game White erred with 17… cb6? 18. hg5! f:h4
19. fe5 ?
( 19. cd4! won: gf6 20. fe5 fg5 21. gf4 hg7 22. hg3 x )
19… hg5? (Loses; 19…gf6!= gave a draw) 20. gf4 gh6 21. cd4 hg7 22. hg3 gf6 23. e:g7 h:f8 24. f:h6 fg7 25. h:b4 a:e5 26. ab4! x
12…e5:g3 13. h4:f2 f6-e5 14. e3-f4 e5:g3
15. h2:f4 b6-a5 16. f2-e3
White has built parallel pieces

16…c7-b6!

(Without hesitation Black made this only move. White was evidently hoping for 16… gf6? 17. cd4 cb6 18. bc3 fg5
(On 18… hg7 19. gf2 fg5 20. cb4 a:g3 21. f:h8x )
19. gf2 gh4 20. fg3 h:f2 21. e:g3 hg7 22. de5 gf6 23. e:g7 h:f8 24. gh4 with the inevitable strike from square h4, as happened in the games of Y. Kondrachenko and N. Struchkov on Gambler.
17. e1-f2 g7-f6 18. f2-g3 h8-g7 19. g3-h4 f6-e5 20. g1-h2 e5:g3 21. h4:f2 h6-g5
22. h2-g3 g5-h4 23. g3-f4 g7-f6

24. f2-g3 1-1
They agreed a draw, since after White’s strike there follows Black’s counter-strike de5 with a draw.
An interesting, hard-fought and tense game!

Game 2 Sergey Sadovsky – Andrey Valyuk, round 1, 1-1

Video of game 2 — watch it here

1. g3-h4 d6-c5 2. f2-g3 f6-e5 3. e3-d4 c5:e3 4. d2:d6 c7:e5

Andrey Valyuk chooses the generally accepted capture.

5. a3-b4 g7-f6 6. b4-a5

6… f8-g7! A new move in the theory of flying draughts!
6…hg7 or 6…bc7 were usually played, with an interesting game, as Edeon-Profi’s game database shows — it contains 4 games on this theme.

7. a5:c7 b8:d6 8. c1-d2 d6-c5

9. g3-f4 e5:g3 10. h4:f2 f6-e5 11. h2-g3 h6-g5
Edeon-Profi recommends 11… ed6 and 12…ab6 with an equal game
12. d2-e3
both sides are playing in the strongest way!

12…g5-f4 13. e3:g5 g7-h6
The standard sacrifice and attack, which both players had foreseen!
14. g5-f6 e5:g7 15. c3-d4 c5:e3 16. f2:d4

In the end White obtained a small advantage and Black had to make a draw, which Black duly demonstrated without any trouble:
16… e7-d6 17. g3-f4 g7-f6 18. e1-d2 f6-g5 19. d2-e3 d6-c5 20. d4:b6 a7:c5 21. b2-c3 h8-g7 22. a1-b2 d8-c7 1-1

V. Novikov – Y. Zhukovsky, round 1, game 1, 1-1

14.cb2 White wants to pin Black’s position with dc3 and win
14… ab4 Black is forced to carry out a combination.
15.axe3 ef6 16.gxc5 bxh4 17.de3

17… hg3? Loses.
This line gave a draw: 17… ab6 18. ef2 bc5 19. bc3 fe7 20. ab2 ed6 21. ba3 ef4 22. e:g5 h:f6 23. fg3 de5 24. cb4 cd4 25. ba5 de3 26. ab6 ed2 27. bc7 de1 28. gh4 ef4 29. cd8 fg3 30. d:g5 ef2 =
18.ef4 gh2 19.fxd6 ab6

20.hg7? The wrong plan.

A different way of giving up the piece won: 20. de7 f:d6 21. hg7 hg1 22. gf8 de5 23. bc3 ge3 24. fh6 ec5 25. hg7 ef4 26. gf8 x

20… fxh6 21.de7 hg1 22.ed8 ba5 23.bc3 gc5 24.df6 cb6 25.fh4 bc5 26.hd8 ce3 27.dc7 ec5 28.cb8 hg5 29.ba7 cd6 30.ae3 gh4 31.ef2 db8 32.cd4 bh2 33.fg1 hb8 34.dc5 hg3 35.ed2 gh2 36.dc3 bg3 37.cd4 gf4 38.ab2 fb8 1-1

A. Kunitsa – A. Tikhonov, round 1, game 1, 1-1

Black won the opening battle against White, and all that was left was to convert the advantage!
12… ed6 The obvious strong move for Black, but no more than that.
13.ba5 ef4 14.gxe5 dxb4 15.axa7 hg5 16.bc3 hg7 17.ab2 gf6 18.ba3 fe7 19.ab4 gf4 20.ef2 fg5 21.fe3 fxd2 22.cxe1 ef6 23.gf2 fe5 24.fe3 ef4 25.ed4 fg3 26.bc5 gh2 27.cb6 gh4 28.ed2 hg1 29.dc3 gxc5 30.bxd4 cd6 31.cb4 hg3 32.ab6 de7 33.bc5 dxb4 34.bc7 bxd6 1-1

A. Tikhonov – A. Kunitsa, round 1, game 2, 1-1
In game 2 the 11-year-old draughts player showed an excellent knowledge of theory.
1.ab4 fe5 2.ef4 ba5 3.ba3 cb6 4.fe3 ef6 5.ed4 dc5 6.bxd6 exc7

As V. A. Sokov pointed out, White can now play either 7. ab4 fg5 8. fe5
and so on, or 7. ab2 bc5 8. d:b6 a:c5 9. de3 fg5 10. ed4 with a complex game.
The young player chooses the strongest plan, with the invasion of square f6, first carried out in the game Y. Arustamov – V. Vaisser, USSR Cup, 1976:

7.cb2! fg5 8.fe5! gh4 9.ef6! hxf2 10.exg3 gxe5 11.dxf6 cd6 12.de3 dc5 13.gf2 bc7 14.gf4 cd6 15.fg3 fg7 16.gh4 gxg3 17.hxf4 hg7 18.ed4 cxg5 19.hxh8 de5 20.hxd4 bc5 21.dxb6 axc7 22.cd4 hg5 23.de5 ab6 24.ab4 1-1

I. Mikhalchenko – O. Chepa, round 1, game 1, 2-0
1.cd4 fe5 2.dxf6 exg5 3.gf4 de7 4.bc3 gh4 ? Mistake 1. 4…gf6 had to be played
5.cd4 dc5 Black transposes to the City game.

This continuation was first introduced into practice by N. Kukuev. Its aim is to prepare active operations by Black on the left flank. The drawback of
the continuation under review is that, by taking the piece off square d8, Black loses the possibility of the exchange b6—a5, and Black’s right flank is tied down for a while.
6.dc3 cd6 7.cb4 ba5 8.dxb6 axc7 9.ab2 gf6

10.cd2!
after 10.bc3 the theory from the 182 draughts books loaded into Edeon-Profi recommends 10…cb6!
10… fg5 11.bc3 cb6? Loses. Edeon offers the following forced drawing line:
11…. ab6 12. ba5 hg7 13. cd4! dc5 14. dc3 gf6 15. ed2 ed6 16. hg3 fe5 17. d:f6 g:e7 18. cd4! ef6 19. dc3 fg5 20. cb4 fe7 21. de5 cd4 22. e:c3 ef6 23. gh2 bc5 24. cd4 de5 25. d:d8 ed4 26. e:c5 g:g1 27. d:g5 g:b6 28. a:c7 h:f4 29. g:e5 b:f4 30. bc5 with a draw
Or this one: 11… dc5 12. b:d6 c:g3 13. h:f4 ed6 14. cd4 ab6 15. dc3 ba5 16. ed2 bc7 17. dc5 d:b4 18. a:c5 cd6 19. c:e7 f:d6 20. cd4 hg7 21. de5 dc5 22. dc3 gf6 23. e:g7 h:f8 24. f:h6 hg3 25. f:h4 cb4 26. cd4 ba3 27. de5 ab2 28. ed6 ba1 29. dc7 ab4 = )

After that the world champion left Black not a single chance and won the game cleanly:

12.ba5! bc5 13.ab6 cb4 14.axc5 dxb4 15.cxa5 axc5 16.dc3 hg7 17.ed4 gxe3 18.dxb6 ed2 19.ba7 dxb4 20.axc3 ed6 21.cb4 gf6 22.ba5 dc5 23.ab6 cb4 24.bc7 bxd6 25.ab8 dc5 26.ed2 ba3 27.ba7 cd4 28.axe3 fe5 29.hg3 hg5 30.exh6 ab2 31.dc3 bxd4 32.hd2 fg7 33.da5 gh6 34.ad2 hg5 35.dxh6 dc3 36.hg7 2-0

O. Chepa – I. Mikhalchenko, round 1, game 2, 0-2

Black won the opening battle, creating a bad piece on g3 and occupying the c5 point
16.cb2?
The first mistake. The centre had to be played: 16. de3! hg7 (on 16… cb6 17. cd4 = )
17. cb2 cb6 (if 17… fe7 18. cd4 =)
(on 17… gf6 — the combination 18. ed4 c:g5 19. fe3 h:d4 20. c:g7 = ) ) 18. cd4 =
16… hg7?
An inaccuracy. The following plan won: 16… fe7! 17. de3 ed6 18. cd4 cb6 19. ed2 hg7 20. dc3 ba7 21. de5 dc7 22. cd4 cb4 23. ba3 dc5 24. gh2 bc3 25. d:b2 cb4 26. a:c5 b:f6 27. fe5 f:d4 28. e:c5 hg5 29. bc3 gf6 x
17.gh2??
Building such a column loses definitively.
17. de3 fe7 18. cd4 = still had to be played

17…fe7 18.de3 ef6 19.fe5 fxd4 20.cxe5 hg5 0-2

M. Semenyuk – M. Lev, round 1, game 1, 2-0

22… ef6?
go left and you lose the game, go right and it is a draw: 22… ed6! 23. fg3 h:f2 24. e:g3 dc7 (even simpler is 24… de7! 25. gh4 dc5 26. fe5 ed6 27. e:c7 b:d6 28. hg5 de5 29. gh6 ef4 = )
25. fg5 de5 26. ab6 c:a5 27. gh6 ed4 28. hg7 dc3 29. gh8 ab2 30. c:a3 cd2 31. hc3 d:b4 32. a:c5 bc7 =

23.ed2! dc7

What followed was a chain of endgame mistakes:
24.dc3?
Strange — why not 24. de3! cd6 25. ed4 bc7 26. dc5 d:b4 27. a:c3 with an easy win
24…cd6?
24… fe5 25. f:d6 c:e5 26. ab6 ef4 27. ba7 fg3 28. fe3 gh2= gave a draw
25.cd4 ba7 26.fg5 de5 27.gxe7 exc3 28.ef8 ab6 29.axc7 cd2 30.cxe3 ab2 31.cb8 ba1 32.fe7 ab2 33.eg5 hxf6 2-0

M. Semenyuk – Y. Kondrachenko, round 2, game 2, 1-1

A standard practical position with a difficult endgame ahead for Black.
19… gh4?
The grandmaster failed to cope with the difficulties of the defence and made a mistake that could have led to defeat.
Only 19… ba5! should have been played: 20. d:b6 a:c5
( a difficult defence after capturing backwards with 20… a:c7 21. cd4 cb6 22. ed2 dc5 23. dc3 ba5 24. d:b6 a:c5 25. cd4 gh4 26. d:b6 a:c7 27. ed4 fg5 28. fe5 hg3 29. dc5 gf4 30. ab4 f:d6 31. c:e7 cd6! only this! 32. e:c5 hg5 = )
21. cd4 gh4 22. d:b6 a:c7 23. ed2 fe5 24. gh2 e:g3 25. h:f4 cb6 26. dc3 ba5 27. ab4 hg5 28. f:h6 hg3 29. hg7 gh2 30. gh8 hg1 31. ef4 ga7 =

20.gf2
20.ed2! won more simply: ba5
White was probably afraid of the sacrifice: 20…hg5 21. f:h6 and hg3. But it loses quickly because of the counter-sacrifice: 22. hg7 f:h8 23. de5 d:f4 24. e:g5 hg7 25. cb4 cd4 26. dc3 d:b2 27. a:c1 x
21. d:b6 a:c5 22. cd4 fg5 23. d:b6 a:c7 24. dc3! cb6 25. cd4! dc5 26. gf2 ba5 27. d:b6 a:c7 28. fe5 x
20…ba5 21.dxb6 axc5 22.cd4 de5 23.dxb6 exg3 24.bc7 gh2 25.cb8 hg1 26.ed2?
26. bh2 !x won
26… hg5! 27.bh2
Too late now!
27…hg3! 1-1