The main OPEN tournament of the Skalica Chess Festival brought quality nine-round duels with the standard pace of 90 min/40 moves + 30 s, then 30 min + 30 s. In the House of Culture in Skalica was played 23.-31. August 2025, the director was IO Milan Roman, the chief judge was IA Rastislav Diviak. The event for the category min. rating 2000 communicated a Prize Pool of 10 000 €. The average Elo of the starting field was 2173 and the average age was 25 years.
The winner and the decisive finish
The tournament was won by IM Valentin Baidetskyi (AUT) with a score of 7.5/9. In the last round, he defeated GM Ilmars Starostits with black to seal the championship. GM Jerguš Pecháč (SVK) secured 2nd place with a win over FM Apaar Saxen (9th round). place with 7/9. FM Miras Assylov (KAZ) completed the podium with 6,5/9 after his win over FM Jiri Boušek.
TOP 10 – final ranking
- IM Valentin Baidetskyi (AUT) – 7,5/9
- GM Jergus Pechac (SVK) – 7/9
- FM Miras Assylov (KAZ) – 6,5/9
- GM Anton Korobov (UKR) – 6/9
- FM Jiri Bouška (CZE) – 6/9
- GM Ilmars Starostits (LAT) – 6/9
- GM Pavel Simacek (CZE) – 6/9
- FM Matyáš Paseka (CZE) – 6/9
- FM Juraj Oruzinsky (SVK) – 6/9
- FM Apaar Saxena (IND) – 5,5/9
Interesting fact
WFM Tihana Iveković (CRO) in Skalica fulfilled the standard for the WIM (Women’s International Master) title – TPR 2276 tournament performance with 9 games and a good composition of opponents.
Award Ceremony
The awards were presented by Peter Špak, member of the Board of Directors, on behalf of the main sponsor of the event – Energy Group.
International participation and statistics
There were 54 players from 13 federations (SVK, CZE, AUT, CRO, ENG, GER, HUN, IND, ISR, KAZ, LAT, POL, UKR). In total 232 games were played. In terms of titles, there were 8 GMs, 2 IMs, 1 WIM, 10 FMs, 4 WFMs, 6 CMs and 1 WCM.