Great chess master Viorel Iordachescu ranked 20th at the European Chess Championship and will thus take part in the World Cup that will be held in Azerbaijan, Baku, in 2015, IPN reports.

The European Championship took place in Yerevan, Armenia, on March 2-15. In a news conference at IPN, Viorel Iordachescu said it was a stiff competition as most of the 268 participants were masters. Viorel Iordachescu started with a victory, but later suffered a defeat to a chess player from Poland. “Possibly this defeat gave me strength. I played calmer and thus achieved the final result. This is a great success for me as I lately centered on organizational problems and the game was on second place,” stated the master.

Two more Moldovan chess players took part in the championship. Great master Dumitru Svetushkin finished 184th, while Moldova’s champion Liviu Cerbulenko ranked 175th. Referring to their poorer performance, Viorel Iordachescu said that Dumitru Svetushkin has focused on coaching activities, while Liviu Cherbulenko is only 17 and will yet achieve remarkable results if he is supported.

The great master criticized the Moldovan Chess Federation for not contributing to the training of the chess players. Viorel Iordachescu, who is the president of the National Chess Academy, said he asked the federation to organize a training session, but received a refusal. “A Chess Olympiad will be held in Norway thus summer and a training session would have been beneficial for preparing not only for the championship, but also for the Olympiad. I hope those from the federation will think how to help the chess players to improve their results,” he stated.

The World Chess Cup is held once in two years. The first 23 players ranked at the European Championship qualify for it. The current championship was won by Russia, which also ranked third. The second position was taken by Spain.