Valerij Popov takes gold at the European Rapid Championship

12/10/2018 – A two-day 13-round event finished with the 40th seed as the winner. The European Rapid Championship took place on December 8th and 9th in Skopje and was won by Russian GM Valerij Popov. Three other players scored the same 10½ points, but the 44-year-old took gold on tiebreaks. Andrey Esipenko (Russia) finished second, Vahap Sanal (Turkey) third and Luca Moroni (Italy) fourth. IVA VIDENOVA and PATRICIA CLAROS sent us a report with highlights and plenty of images from the capital of Macedonia. | Photos: Patricia Claros Aguilar