European Pair Champions Natalia Kovaleva 5d and Dmitry Surin 6d kept their title with a 6-1 record in St. 
Petersburg April 23-25. Challengers Elvina Karlsberg 5d and Alex Dinerchtein 3p lost the mutual encounter Sunday morning and finished with silver. Unexpectedly, Russia also collected bronze when Kamysheva/Mezhov (2k), who only lost to Laura Avram and Lucian Corlan (2d) of Romania, took third. The Romanians were the best foreign team at fourth place. Only four other teams from Europe could reach St.Petersburg in time, due to the volcano-related flight restrictions over most of Europe. Romania and Turkey flew in, while next-door neighbours Poland, Belorussia and Finland made their way there by car and ferry. Organizers filled out the field with local pairs.
– Peter Dijkema, EJ European Correspondent, reporting on EuroGoTV
