Leia Garifullina from Yekaterinburg became the champion of Russia in chess

The Superfinal of the Russian Classical Chess Championship ended in Rostov-on-Don. According to the press service of the Chess Federation of the Sverdlovsk region, grandmaster Ekaterina Goltseva and Yekaterinburger Leia Garifullina fought for the title in the women's tournament - both scored 7.5 points. After a tiebreak of two games in fast chess, Garifullina won the title of champion of Russia.

This is the first title of the champion of the country in the career of a chess player. Garifullina became the second pupil of the Sverdlovsk chess school to take this title: the first was Yulia Demina, who won in 1988.

Thanks to the victory, Garifullina received the right to perform at the women’s World Cup. She also won the Women’s World Team Championship (2025), the Russian Blitz Championship (2023) and other major tournaments.

At the Superfinal, Garifullina played 11 games: 7 wins, 1 defeat and 3 draws.

In November 2025, MK-Ural wrote that Governor Denis Pasler congratulated chess player Leia Garifullina. The Russian women’s team won the world chess team championship. As the head of the region noted in his social networks, the Russian team included Sverdlovsk athlete Leia Garifullina.