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GM Aleksey Grebnev (second from right) receives the champion’s trophy. From left are Amal Al Arif , Board Member Dubai Chess Club, Najeeb Mohd Saleh , Vice President Dubai Chess Club and Abdulkarim Almarzouqi , Secretary General of the UAE Chess Federation.

GM Aleksey Grebnev of Russia won the strong Dubai Open 2025 Category A tournament held 27 May to 4 June 2025 at the Dubai Chess Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Thirty Grandmasters, five Woman GMs, 38 International Masters and 4 FIDE Masters participated. A total of 183 players from 37 countries competed in two groups.

Visit chess-results.com for round by round results and standings and to download games.

FM Mahdi Nikookar of Iran (second from left) receives Group B champion’s trophy from Dubai Chess Club Manager Mohd. Husseiny at left.

The 2nd JCI Senate Lipa Chess Festival gets underway on June 14 and 15, 2025 at the Lipa Academy of Sports Culture and Arts, Barangay Dagatan, Lipa City, Philippines.
Organized by the JCI Senate Lipa in close cooperation with Mayor Eric Africa, former Vice-Mayor Kuya Boy Manguerra and Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers – PSME past president Engr. Roger Reyes, a total cash purse worth P354,000 plus trophies, medals and certificates will be given away to winners.
The event is held in Celebration of Lipa City Foundation Day, which is backed by LGU of Lipa, and is aimed at producing future talents.
The 2-day rapid event features Open, Under-14, and Open Team Divisions.
University of Santo Tomas, Mapua, and University of Makati have confirmed their participation in the Open Team Divisions with the champion getting the top prize of P55,000.
Meanwhile, Grandmaster Darwin Laylo, International Masters Michael Concio Jr. and Ronald Dableo and FIDE Masters David Elorta and Jethro Dino Aquino are among the favorites in the Individual Open division with the winner getting the top purse of P35,000.
Call or text Noel at 0917-504-6635 for complete details.-Marlon Bernardino-

The Hong Kong China Chess Federation Limited (HKCCFL) is honored to invite chess players from all member federations of the Asian Chess Federation to participate in the 2025 Asian Amateur Chess Championships (FIDE rated with possible direct titles) from the 1st August 2025 with last round & prize giving on 9th August 2025.

The Asian Amateur Championships 2025 is open to all Asian amateur players, registered by their federation or applying directly to the organizer, who should have a FIDE rating at the start of the tournament that is under 2300 for U2300 category, under 2000 for the U2000 category and under 1700 for the U1700 category.

Players should not have a FIDE title higher than FIDE Master (i.e., WIM, WGM, IM and GM). All participants must have a FIDE ID to participate in this tournament.

Download 2025 Asian Amateur Chess Championships – revised

Registration – 2025 Asian Amateur Chess Championships

The Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) together with its sponsor – Chess Hub Sdn Bhd, is planning to organize our first ever Chess Hub MCF GM IM Invitational Chess Championship 2025 to be held from 27^th to the 3^rd of August 2025 at Chess Hub Sdn Bhd, located on Jalan Ampang Putra, Selangor, Malaysia.

The event is limited to 40 players only and MCF intends to have between 8 and 10 Grandmasters, and 4 and 6 International Masters from all over the world to play in this first ever invitational event. As organizer, MCF can accept more GMs or IMs (WGMs) to play BUT only the first 10 GMs and 6 IMs or WGMs will be given partial airfare (depending on where the flights originate), daily allowances (up to RM150 per day), and accommodation (single/twin sharing). Additional GMs and IMs/WGMs who are interested to participate will be offered based on availability which may or may not equal the initial offer. FYI – offers to WGMs will be equal to that of IMs. For WIM interested to play in the event, please write to us at mcfsecretariat@malaysiachess.org

The concept of the invitational event is to have between 20 and 25 foreign players to participate in the event – including strong foreign players seeking norms and wanting to improve their rating points, and another 20 and 15 aspiring Malaysian players (mostly young players) that have been identified as titled potentials.

Tournament format shall be nine (9) Rounds Swiss with a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds. There shall be one free day in between and 3 days of multiple rounds.

The total prize fund offered is RM28,000 (approximately USD6,500) with the winner set to earn RM10,000 (USD2,200). While the prizes are limited to the top 8 players, 1 Women player and 1 Best Malaysian, the program is to attract many players to come to Malaysia to explore and enjoy our country, our culture, our food, our hospitality and most importantly, to help invigorate and increase the interest of many hopeful players to elevate their chess playing skills.  Chess Hub Sdn Bhd and the Malaysian Chess Federation hopes the involvement of many GMs/IMs/WGMs and the possibility of having a quality event will help to boost the popularity of chess in Malaysia.

Aside from the Invitational event, we are also offering additional programs for GMs and IMs/WGMs who are keen to stay a few days longer in Malaysia – all will be paid for, to be involved in Training Programs and Workshops that are aimed at helping players and improve their playing skills. If there are GMs and IMs who are keen to take up the opportunity of training young chess players, this is one to explore and not to be missed.

Download Chess Hub MCF GM IM Invitational Chess Championship 2025 – Final (Shared)

For more details, please read the attached brochure or write to mcfsecretariat@malaysiachess.org / WhatsApp +6016.338.2542.

On the International Children’s Day, which is celebrated on 1st June, the Velvet Seasons hotel complex at the Sirius Federal Territory of Krasnodar Krai hosted the opening ceremony of the final stage of the Open All-Russian chess competition Belaya Ladya (White Rook) among teams of general education organizations, as well as the final stage of the second All-Russian Chess Field competition among teams from rural and small-town general education organizations.

Prior to the ceremony’s commencement, attendees of all ages had the opportunity to engage in photo taking with characters representing popular Arabian fairy tales. A total of 90 teams are participating in this year’s Belaya Ladya final, including 85 regions of Russia and the following countries: Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and the United Arab Emirates.

In October 2024, President of Russia Vladimir Putin met with Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, President of the Asian Chess Federation (ACF), at the Russia-Sports Power Forum in Ufa. There, Putin awarded Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifah Al Nahyan the Order of Friendship. The Sheikh promised that a team from the United Arab Emirates would participate in the final stage of the Belaya Ladya.

The ceremony began with a performance of the musical piece “We Are Cossacks” by the folk song ensemble Zaryanitsa, a winner of international and all-Russian competitions. The programme host took attendance of the teams participating in both competitions, and then read a welcome letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Hisham Al Taher (photo above), the Secretary General of the Asian Chess Federation, and Alexander Tkachev, the Executive Director of the Chess Federation of Russia, welcomed the participants and guests. Mr. Al Taher presented Mr. Tkachev with a special additional cup established by the Asian Chess Federation. Sergey Shinkarev, the Deputy Director General of the Velvet Seasons hotel complex, wished the young chess players a good time both on and off the chessboard.

The ceremony ended with a spectacular sand show.

Founded in 1969, Belaya Ladya is an annual all-Russian chess tournament for teams from educational institutions. The competition consists of several stages, culminating in a final stage where the strongest teams from the participating regions compete. The competition is open to teams of schoolchildren under the age of 14.

The Belaya Ladya tournament was extremely popular during the Soviet era, but it ceased to be held after the USSR collapsed. In 2004, Belaya Ladya made a comeback. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the final stage competition in Dagomys in 2014. The final stage of Belaya Ladya has become an international event since 2015.

Teams from each region of the Russian Federation that won the regional stage, as well as winning teams from international children’s amateur competitions, are admitted to participate in the final stage competitions.

Team line-up: four players (at least one of whom is to be female) and one team coach. One of the players is the team captain.

In 2025, Belaya Ladya will be held for the 56th time.

Starting lists

The final stage of the second All-Russia Chess Field competition is underway as well, with 50 teams from rural and small-town educational institutions competing.

Starting lists

From June 2 to 10, the Velvet Seasons hotel complex will host the final stage of the all-Russian team competition “Debut” for first and second graders. In 2025, the competition will include teams representing the 26 regions that performed best in the regional qualifiers.

Starting lists

The Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, T-Bank, the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation, and Chess Federation of Russia are the Belaya Ladya’s organisers.

The general partner of the CFR is PhosAgro. Aeroflot and the Sirius Federal Territory are the CFR’s partners.

The Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation and the Chess Federation of Russia are the organisers of the Chess Field competition, which is held with support from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and the Timchenko Foundation.

News with more photos

Chess in Schools website

Photos by Vladimir Barsky

Benoni Wabe had a perfect score of 5 points to win the IIEE Northern Mindanao Region 50th IIEE Golden Jubilee Rapid Chess invitational open tournament last May 29, 2025 at the IIEE Midyear Convention in University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP) in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines.

In Photo, from L-R:  Former DENR-CENRO Gingoog City Atty. Conrado Mahinay, former CDO Chapter president Leopoldo Capacia, Minergy CEO & President William Lim, FNA Lorenzo Cuizon, 9-year old chess wonder Kyros Andrei Magsalay, IIEE Golden Sports chairman Menandro Lim, former IIEE National president Allan Alvarez and IIEE Golden Sports Vice Chair Ervin Fernandez.

AFM Wabe beat top seed IIEE Mindanao team chess captain Abdul Halil Abdullah in round 3. He also beat IIEE Cezmar Ramil Bacarro and IIEE Western Visayas AFM Roel Bryan Alsagon in the last round.

It was the only defeat of AFM Alsagon who settled for the 2nd place with 4 points.  Retired judge Mario Arroyo and Former DENR-CENRO Gingoog City Atty. Conrado Mahinay also had 4 points each but settled for 3rd and 4th respectively after tie break.

Fifth placer Arjun Niel Crisologo will join Abdullah and Bacarro for IIEE CDO team to represent the IIEE Northern Mindanao region on September 13, 2025 inter-island qualifier during the IIEE Golden Anniversary.  Former Mindanao Energy System Inc. (Minergy) CEO & President William Lim ranked 9th and should represent IIEE but begged off. The youngest participant, 9 year old Kyros Andrei Magsalay had 2 points good for a tie for 15th to 20th rank with ACM Leo Wabe.
“It was such a tough competition to play with electrical engineers of IIEE from Visayas and Mindanao and also with local executive who participated in this the event.  Kudos to FIDE National Arbiter Lorenzo Quizon and the IIEE Golden Sports Chairman Menandro Lim for bringing here in CDO the tournament which attracted all ages from young guns to retirees” said Arena Candidate Master Benoni Wabe, the founding head of the Golden Chess Friends which organizes monthly chess tournaments in Northern Mindanao.

In the international Bundesliga league, the IIEE chessmaster team barged in the level 1 tournament to bolster its chance to meet its target to rank 20th or better in the World.  Jersey Marticio top for the team with 46 points last May 26 while Chester Neil Reyes top score with 53 points lasy May 30, 2025.=Marlon Bernardino-

FIDE Master (FM) Ivan Travis Cu emerged as the champion in the Open Division of the Chess Mind Grandprix May Edition Tournament last Saturday, May 31, 2025 at the Robinsons Galleria, Quezon City, Philippines.

In photo, Chessmind Academy Administrator Maria Noemi Ballecer awards the top prize to FM Ivan Travis Cu assisted by Chessmind Academy Head Coach Joseph Ballecer.

FM Cu, incoming grade 11 of Xavier School in San Juan City, pocketed the P7,000 purse and the trophy for winning  the tournament which saw over 50 players participate.
He had a near-perfect campaign after tallying 6.5 points in the seven-round Swiss system competition.
FM Cu defeated Clarence Ong, Jarhed Reignfeild Diocares and National Master (NM) Arman Subaste in the first and third rounds, respectively.
He snapped his third-match winning streak when he had a draw against International Master (IM) Hamed Nouri in the fourth round.
However, FM Cu went on to win the last three rounds against Ritchie Jocson, Sherwin Tiu and Cyrus Luis Mahawan.
The 16-year-old soft-spoken FM Cu is playing under the guidance of Xavier School Coach IA Rolly Yutuc and International Master (IM) Jan Emmanuel Garcia.
FIDE Master (FM) Alekhine Nouri defeated his father IM Hamed Nouri in the last round to finish second overall with 6.0 points for P5,000 runner-up purse.
Tiu, IM Hamed and FIDE Master (FM) Adrian Ros Pacis finished the tournament with similar 5.5 points while Mahawan, Genesis Jahk Andres, Mark Anthony Danao,  Abraham Bayron and  Caleb Jan Piamonte have identical 5.0 points.
The Chess Mind Grandprix May Edition Tournament (rapid event) was organized by FIDE Master (FM) Dino Ballecer and officiated by NA Alexander Dinoy, NA Alfredo Chay and NA Christian Javier.-Marlon Bernardino-