Munich plays chess: 160 players fight for 20,000 euros in prize money!

Munich plays chess: 160 players fight for 20,000 euros in prize money!

The Whitsun Open, the sporting highlight of the third Munich Chess Festival, is in full swing! The event began on June 8th, 2025 at the Moosach high school and lasts until June 14th. Over 160 players from 40 nations have gathered, including ten grandmasters, to fight for the prize money of 20,000 euros, which is awarded for title standards and world ranking points. Munich bears the title of German chess capital this year Steffan's chess pages report.

The festival is organized by the Schachfestival München e.V., under the direction of Richard Holzberger. The city of Munich supports this magnificent event, and main sponsor Krulich Immobilien makes a first-class chess event possible. In total, the 2025 festival includes almost 40 days full of exciting chess tournaments: from the Whitsun Open to the youth and seniors' open as well as a standard tournament.

Tournament details and participants

The Whitsun Open is divided into two categories: The A category is aimed at players with an Elo rating of 2000 and above, while the B category is open to all those with a rating of up to 2000. The seeding list in the A tournament is led by grandmaster Kirill Alekseenko. A young star in the chess sky is Leonardo Costa, who, at the age of 17, starts the tournament as Germany's youngest grandmaster.

Among the participants, 33 Indian players stand out, all competing together in the A category. Aakanksha Hagawane and Moritz Stöttner have already achieved standards for the title of “International Master”, while Ashot Parvanyan from Norderstedt is on the way to achieving the Grandmaster title. Chess Results also gives the average rating of the players as 2213 and highlights the average age of 24 years.

History and meaning of chess

A look at the history of chess shows how much the game has grown over the years. The first known international masters tournament took place in Madrid in 1575, whereas the first chess tournament in Germany was held in Düsseldorf in 1862. Max Lange secured first place back then, laying the foundation for the tradition that continues to this day, as well as on the platform Wikipedia is reported.

By the way, the Munich Chess Festival celebrated its premiere in 2023 and has quickly developed into an important event in the chess scene. There are 35 chess clubs in Munich, which together have around 2,250 members, which makes it clear that there is a lively chess community here.

The Whitsun Open promises to not only be an exciting tournament, but also to continue the tradition of chess in Munich and get more people excited about this fascinating game.