Grand international draughts master Ion Dosca became champion of the Republic of Moldova for the 18th time. This way the player has qualified for the next European draughts championship that will take place in Bulgaria this September.

Contacted by IPN, Ion Dosca said it is pleasant to be champion of the country, especially because it is for the 18th time. Moreover, this enables him to represent Moldova at the next European championship.

Elena Scovitina, who is three times women’s world champion, ranked second, while Alexei Dolgopolov finished third. In the rapid program, the results were the same as in the classical program: Ion Dosca – gold, Elena Scovitina – silver and Alexei Dolgopolov – bronze. In the blitz program, gold was won by Ion Dosca, silver by Marcel Ursu, who is a student of the lyceum of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, and bronze by Alexei Dolgopolov.

Ion Dosca won the USSR Cup (1980 and 1990); is a champion of the Soviet Union (1991), Russian variant; an awardee of the World Championships, universal variant; a world champion (1999), universal variant, and a champion of the U.S., pool-checkers variant (2000).