Estonian International Checkers Championship 2009

The Estonian International Checkers Championship began over the weekend (31.01 - 01.02). Raido Värik and Konstantin Selli are leading the men's team with 4 points after the second round. Villem Lüüs, Arno Uutma and Urmo Ilves are sharing 3-5 places with 3 points. Kadi Veski and Marika Azojan are leading the women's team with 3 points after the second round. Katrin and Helina Rajasalu have collected 2 points, while they have had a free round. The Estonian champion will automatically qualify for the final tournament of the World Championship in the fall, which will take place this year in Brazil. In the men's team, the current leader Raido Värik tied with Arno Uutma in the fifth round, while Konstantin Selli was defeated by Priit Tänava and caught Värik. Urmo Ilves is behind the leaders by a point, tying with Uno Plak. The women's team has three leaders after the fifth round: Kadi Veski, Piret Viirma and Helina Rajasalu continue with 2. However, due to the free round, they currently have a different number of points.

The men are in a tight race. Raido Värik defeated Priit Tänava and has collected 10 out of 12 points. He is being followed by Konstantin Selli and Urmo Ilves with 9 out of 12 points. Selli last tied with Villem Lüüsi, Ilves was defeated by Janek Jaanimäe. Kadi Veski won an important victory for the women, who defeated Piret Viirma in the leaders' match and has 3. Helina Rajasalu is second with the same number of victories, who defeated Katrin Rajasalu in the sixth round. Marika Azojan continues in third place.

Round 7 was dramatic for the leaders in both men and women. Raido Värik, who led the men, lost to Villem Lüüsi and Konstantin Selli, who shared second place, to Raivo Rist. Urmo Ilves drew with Kalev Parksep at the same time and Arno Uutma beat Priit Tänava, so the top three are currently as follows: Värik, Ilves and Uutma have collected 10 points equally. Selli and Rist are behind by one point. Among the women, Helina Rajasalu, who shared the lead, lost to Margit Viirma. Marika Azojan defeated Diana Romanenkova and caught up with Kadi Veski with 3. Third place is shared by Helina Rajasalu, Kaari Vainonen and Margit Viirma with 2.

There were changes again in the men's top three. In the ninth round, Urmo Ilves defeated Heinar Jahu and leads with 14 out of 18 points. Raivo Rist and Arno Uutma, who shared second place, played each other, with Uutma emerging as the winner and still trailing Ilves by a point. Raido Värik came in third, defeating Uno Plak and has collected 12 points. There are 2 rounds left until the end of the tournament. The final round was held in the women's tournament. Leaders Kadi Veski and Mariko Azojan played each other. The game ended in a draw and the winners collected 12 out of 16 points. A rematch will be held to determine the Estonian champion. Kaari Vainonen and Margit Viirma shared 3-4 places with 10 points, also drawing with each other in the last game. Helina Rajasalu and Piret Viirma shared 5-6 places with 9 points.

Before the last round, there is another double tie - Urmo Ilves tied with Konstantin Sell, while at the same time the closest pursuer Arno Uutma defeated Uno Plak and caught Ilves. Raido Värik tied with Janek Jaanimäe in third and is 2 points behind the leaders. Selli and Raivo Rist share 4-5 places, 3 points behind the leaders. The first place in the last round will be decided by the matches: Ilves-Värik and Uutma-Jaanimäe.

The last round of the Estonian Championship in international draughts brought changes again in the top three. Urmo Ilves made a mistake in choosing a game plan at the end of the time control and lost to Raido Värik. Arno Uutma drew with Janek Jaanimägi at the same time and collected 16 points as the winner. 2-3 third places were shared by Värik and Ilves with 15 points, the better additional criterion gave Värik second place. Konstantin Selli was fourth with 14 points and last year's champion Raivo Rist was fifth with 13 points. Uutma automatically received the right to play in the World Cup final tournament to be held in Brazil in the fall.