Igor Kovalenko Explained

Igor Kovalenko
Full Name:	Igor Viktorovich Kovalenko
Birth Date:	29 December 1988
Birth Place:	Novomoskovsk, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Grandmaster (2011)
Peakrating:	2702 (August 2015)
Peakranking:	No. 44 (August 2015)
Fideid:	14117908

Igor Viktorovich Kovalenko (uk|Ігор Вікторович Коваленко; lv|Igors Kovaļenko; born 29 December 1988, Novomoskovsk) is a Ukrainian chess player who played for Latvia between 2013 and 2021 and holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM).^[1]

Career

Kovalenko was awarded the titles of International Master (IM) in 2008 and Grandmaster (GM) in 2011. He won the Latvian Chess Championship in 2013^[2] and 2014.^[3] In 2016, Kovalenko came second in the European Individual Chess Championship in Gjakova (Kosovo).^[4] In 2019, he won the Riga Technical University Open.^[5]

Igor Kovalenko played for Latvia in Chess Olympiads:^[6]

• in 2014, at the second board in the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø (+5 −2 =4),
• in 2016, at the second board in the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku (+6 −1 =4),
• in 2018, at the first board in the 43rd Chess Olympiad in Batumi (+6 −3 =0).^[7]

Igor Kovalenko played for Latvia in the European Team Chess Championship:^[8]

• in 2015, at the second board in Reykjavík (+3 −1 =3).

In the light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kovalenko has been putting his chess activities mostly on hold and is instead fighting for his country as part of the Ukrainian resistance movement. ^[9]

Notes and References

1. Web site: FIDE Player transfers . Ratings.fide.com . 2014-01-24 . 2013-02-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130206102952/http://ratings.fide.com/fedchange.phtml?year=2013 . live.
2. Web site: Tournament-Database . Chess-results.com . 2013-04-20 . 2014-01-24 . 2016-03-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304130146/http://chess-results.com/tnr96959.aspx?art=4&lan=1&wi=821 . live.
3. Web site: Latvian championship final-2014 . Chess-Results.com . 2014-05-06 . 2014-05-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140506100131/http://chess-results.com/tnr130555.aspx?lan=1&art=4&wi=821 . live.
4. Web site: 17th European Individual Chess Championship . Chess-Results.com . 2019-08-19 . 2018-03-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180301225843/http://www.chess-results.com/tnr206558.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=11&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984&group=ACP . live.
5. Web site: Riga Technical University Open 2019 - Tournament A . Chess-Results.com . 2019-08-19 . 2019-08-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190814102446/http://chess-results.com/tnr394126.aspx?lan=1&art=4&turdet=YES&flag=30 . live.
6. Web site: Men's Chess Olympiads :: Igor Kovalenko . OlimpBase.org . 2014-12-09.
7. Web site: 43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open . Chess-Results.com . 2018-10-09 . 2018-10-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181019060212/http://chess-results.com/tnr368908.aspx?lan=1 . live.
8. Web site: European Men's Team Chess Championship :: Igor Kovalenko . OlimpBase.org . 2015-11-23 . 2015-11-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151123182845/http://www.olimpbase.org/playerse/bjlxjn1f.html . live.
9. https://www.timesofisrael.com/holding-russia-in-check-ukrainians-look-to-capture-chess-glory-at-jerusalem-tourney/