On the photo - Ivan Skitsko confirmed the title of the best in Fischer chess // Photo: utdmercury.com.
At the end of the tournament, 23-year-old Ivan Skitsko scored 7.5 points, which is 1.5 points more than the second-placed FIDE master Dmitry Gubin (see the tournament table). Grandmaster Vladimir Khamitsevich rounded out the top three.
Best in “unpredictable chess”
Ivan Skitsko has the highest FIDE rating among the participants of the “SET Freestyle Cup” tournament. Before the rating update he has 2.421 points in his asset. Only Victor Bologan, who has 2.484 points and finished the tournament in fourth place, has more.
The title of grandmaster was awarded to Skitsko in 2022, after a draw with the 16th world champion, the highest paid chess player in the world. Magnus Carlsen. Schicco became the first Moldovan chess player to draw with the prominent Norwegian.
“Chess-960”.
The “SET Freestyle Cup” tournament gathered the leading Moldovan masters competing in Fischer chess, also called “Chess-960”. The main difference from classical chess is that the pieces are placed randomly on the first and eighth lines, but with the observance of a number of rules.
The tournament participants were Grandmasters Victor Bologan (2.484 points in the FIDE rating), Ivan Skitsko (2.421), Yegor Lashkin (2.381), Vladimir Khamitsevich (2.379), Vasile Sanduliak (2.299), International Masters Julian Baltag (2.323), Ruslan Soltanich (2.254), FIDE Masters Semyon Shapochnik (2.263), Alexander Baranchuk (2.220) and Dmitry Gubin (2.122).
Logos Press was the information partner of the tournament.
| Final standings and results
“SET Freestyle Cup 2026” |
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| № | Chess player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Points |
| 1 | Ivan Skitsko | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0,5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7,5 | |
| 2 | Dmitry Gubin | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
| 3 | Vladimir Khamitsevich | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0,5 | 1 | 0,5 | 1 | 1 | 0,5 | 5,5 | |
| 4 | Viktor Bologan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0,5 | 1 | 0,5 | 1 | 0,5 | 1 | 5,5 | |
| 5 | Egor Lashkin | 0,5 | 1 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,5 | 1 | 0,5 | 5 | |
| 6 | Semyon Shapochnik | 0 | 0,5 | 0 | 0 | 0,5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0,5 | 4,5 | |
| 7 | Ruslan Soltanich | 0 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 3,5 | |
| 8 | Julian Baltag | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0,5 | 0 | 1 | 0,5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 9 | Vasile Sanduljak | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0,5 | 0 | 0 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 1 | 2,5 | |
| 10 | Alexander Baranchuk | 0 | 0 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 0,5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
