Oleksandr Lapin of Ukraine, coached by the legendary Svitlana Gonchar, was certainly too good for the others for he had rubber-stamped his dominance in this incident-filled competition that involved a protest and a few withdrawals.

It was bizarre that the Czech junior, Patrik Vindis, had reached the final without playing a game! Again, there was a violation that led to one player being disqualification something that the arbiters had felt uncomfortable about but had to comply with Li-Chess’ anti-cheating laws.

Emilis Marcinkevicius of Lithuania, son of the celebrated player, Egle Marcinkevicience, justified his third place position – he has certainly improved his play over the last few years.

Thanks to the arbiters for their patience – they certainly had a thankless job.

Winner: Oleksandr Lapin (Ukraine)

1^st round: Beat  R. Akhmet (Kazakhstan) 1 – 0

2^nd round: Beat  E. Marcinkevicius (Litahuania) 1 – 0

Final: P. Vindis (Czech Republic) 2 – 0