Igor Kovalenko

Igor Viktorovich Kovalenko (Ukrainian: Ігор Вікторович Коваленко; Latvian: Igors Kovaļenko; born 29 December 1988, Novomoskovsk) is a Ukrainian chess player who played for Latvia between 2013 and 2021 and holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM).^[1]

Igor Kovalenko
Kovalenko in Trzcianka, 2013
Full name	Igor Viktorovich Kovalenko
Country	Ukraine (until 2013, since 2021) Latvia (2013–2021)
Born	(1988-12-29) 29 December 1988 (age 36) Novomoskovsk, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Title	Grandmaster (2011)
FIDE rating	2676 (May 2025)
Peak rating	2702 (August 2015)
Ranking	No. 47 (May 2025)
Peak ranking	No. 44 (August 2015)

Career

Kovalenko was awarded the titles of International Master (IM) in 2008 and Grandmaster (GM) in 2011. He won the Latvian Chess Championship in 2013^[2] and 2014.^[3] In 2016, Kovalenko came second in the European Individual Chess Championship in Gjakova (Kosovo).^[4] In 2019, he won the Riga Technical University Open.^[5]

Igor Kovalenko played for Latvia in Chess Olympiads:^[6]

• in 2014, at the second board in the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø (+5 −2 =4),
• in 2016, at the second board in the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku (+6 −1 =4),
• in 2018, at the first board in the 43rd Chess Olympiad in Batumi (+6 −3 =0).^[7]

Igor Kovalenko played for Latvia in the European Team Chess Championship:^[8]

• in 2015, at the second board in Reykjavík (+3 −1 =3).

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 Ukrainian resistance movement. ^[9]