Lapenna and Zimina at the online blitz grand finals
Master Antonio Lapenna and International Master Olga Zimina have earned places in the national grand finals of online play, which will be held at a date and venue to be decided among the best 16 players from all over Italy in the three scheduled disciplines: one minute, three minutes and five minutes. Antonio and Olga thus prove to be among the best "online blitz" players in all of Italy, considering that the qualifying tournaments were played by a very high number of competitors and all the strongest Italian players fought for the coveted qualification to the final. Olga qualified for the 5-minute grand final and Antonio even qualified both for the one-minute final and for the 5-minute one, secured last Thursday 21 November in the last available qualifying tournament. Two years ago the grand finals were held in the evocative setting of the Oval in Turin, which had also hosted the Chess Olympiad in the famous 2006 edition. Congratulations to Olga and Antonio and best wishes for the finals, in which they will face the best IMs and GMs in Italy.