Czech Open 2025

The winner of the Grandmaster "A" tournament was German GM Alexander Donchenko, who thus repeated his triumph from 2022. Donchenko cruised through the tournament, never leaving the top board after round two, and scored a remarkable 8 points, drawing just two games.

After suffering a loss to the in-form Czech GM Petr Hába in round four, it didn’t seem likely that Israeli GM Evgeny Zanan would be able to fight for the very top places. However, he turned things around in spectacular fashion, scoring 4.5 points out of his remaining five games—including an impressive win over the top seed, GM Anton Korobov. This stellar finish secured Zanan second place. Finishing third, with the same score (7/9), was experienced Czech GM Jiří Štoček. Like Zanan, Štoček had an excellent finish to the tournament; his generational clash against IM Václav Fiňek in round eight is especially worth mentioning.

IM Jan Vykouk narrowly missed out on earning a grandmaster norm, despite an impressive performance rating of 2585. He went undefeated and drew with all of the top three seeded players, but in the final round he faced the well-prepared Mongolian IM Khuyagtsogt Itgelt with black, who gave him little chance to fight for a win. As a result, Vykouk and Itgelt finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

The tournament featured over 200 participants, and the average rating rose to a solid 2,226. Complete results, a photo gallery, and games from the live broadcast can be found on our website.