Igor Kovalenko
Igor Viktorovich Kovalenko is a Ukrainian chess player who played for Latvia between 2013 and 2021 and holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster.
In the light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kovalenko has been putting his chess activities mostly on hold and is instead fighting for his country as part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Career
Kovalenko was awarded the titles of International Master in 2008 and Grandmaster in 2011. He won the Latvian Chess Championship in 2013 and 2014. In 2016, Kovalenko came second in the European Individual Chess Championship in Gjakova. In 2019, he won the Riga Technical University Open.Igor Kovalenko played for Latvia in Chess Olympiads:
- in 2014, at the second board in the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø,
- in 2016, at the second board in the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku,
- in 2018, at the first board in the 43rd Chess Olympiad in Batumi.
- in 2015, at the second board in Reykjavík.
- in 2025, at the fourth board in Batumi. He became European champion as a member of the Ukrainian national team, and achieved first place among the players on the fourth board.