Christopher Yoo is the Champion of Sardinia World Chess Festival Open-A 2025

by Himank Ghosh - 03/05/2025

Grandmaster Christopher Yoo became the Champion of the Sardinia Chess Festival Open-A 2025 scoring 7.5/9 points. He made a solid draw with the White pieces against GM SL Narayanan in the final round to win the tournament! GM Ihor Samuenkov took 2nd place and GM Lorenzo Lodici finished 3rd - both winning their final round games, and scoring 7/9 points. Tigran Soghomonyan won the Open-B scoring 7.5/9 points, and the Open-C was won by Sushruta Reddy scoring 8/9 points! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Christopher Yoo takes clear 1st place

Grandmaster Christopher Yoo drew comfortably against Grandmaster SL Narayanan in the final round to become the Champion of Sardinia World Chess Festival Open-A. Christopher won the tournament scoring 7.5/9 points, finishing a half point ahead of the field!

The starting moments of the Game between Grandmaster Christopher Yoo (2588, USA) and Grandmaster SL Narayanan (2601, IND) | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The Champion - Grandmaster Christopher Woojin Yoo (2588, USA): 7.5/9 points | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Christopher took home 10,000 Euros and a nice trophy! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

GM Christopher Yoo's epic jump on the stage after winning the Sardinia Open 2025 | Video: ChessBase India

GM Ihor Samuenkov (2572, UKR) secured 2nd place scoring 7/9 points, winning a fantastic game with the White pieces against IM Miguoel Admiraal (2456, NED). Ihor won 6,000 Euros for finishing 2nd!

Ihor Samuenkov (left) deep in thought against Miguoel Admiraal! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Ihor Samuenkov being awarded the 2nd prize on the stage! Photo: Niklesh Jain

Grandmaster Lorenzo Lodici (2557) won an extremely tense game against IM Loic Travadon (2447, FRA) in the final round with the Black pieces. Thanks to this win, Lorenzo finished 3rd in the tournament, scoring 7/9 points! He won 4,000 Euros.

The intense final moments of the game between IM Loic Travadon and GM Lorenzo Lodici | Photo: Himank Ghosh

GM Lorenzo Lodici (2557, ITA) - 3rd place: 7/9 points | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Grandmaster Daniel Dardha (2651, BEL) - 4th position, 6.5/9 points

IM Loic Travadon (2447, FRA), 5th position - 6.5/9 points. Loic Travadon scored his maiden GM Norm here! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

FM Francesco Bettalli (2409) drew a very tense game against GM Leon Mendonca in the final round. He also scored his maiden GM Norm here, finishing 12th overall and scoring 6/9 points! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

GM Elham Amar (2569, NOR) - 6th position, 6.5/9 points | Photo: Niklesh Jain

GM SL Narayanan (2601, IND) - 7th position, 6.5/9 points | Photo: Niklesh Jain

GM Yahli Sokolovsky (2539, ISR) - 8th position, 6.5/9 points | Photo: Niklesh Jain

IM Marius Fromm (2436, GER) - 9th position, 6.5/9 points | Photo: Niklesh Jain

IM Yaniv Yuval (2407, ISR) - 10th position, 6.5/9 points | Photo: Niklesh Jain

IM Ulviya Fataliyeva (2374, Azerbaijan, standing center left) won the best female player prize! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2643, IND) - 11th position, 6/9 points | Photo: Niklesh Jain

GM Harshit Raja (2474, IND) - 18th position, 5.5/9 points | Photo: Himank Ghosh

Tigran Soghomonyan (1748, ARM) made a dominating performance in the Open B, winning the tournament with a score of 7.5/9 points! Tigran won a wonderful game with the White pieces in the final round against Pietro Gervasi (1933, ITA).

Tigran focusing hard on his game against Pietro! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Tigran taking the cheque in the stage, and the Champions trophy! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Armenia’s young talent Tigran Soghomonyan wins Group B at Sardinia with 7.5/9! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Sushruta Reddy (1704, IND) became the Champion of the Sardinia World Chess Festival Open-C with a round to spare! Susrutha scored 8/9 points to clinch the tournament - winning the event despite losing his last round game. An exceptional performance!

Sushruta taking his prizes on the stage! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Replay all the Round 9 Games

Open-A Standings after Round 9

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	K	rtg+/-
1	4	GM	Yoo, Christopher Woojin	USA	2588	7,5	9	52	42,25	2480	10	18,9
2	6	GM	Samunenkov, Ihor	UKR	2572	7	9	47	36,00	2328	10	0,9
3	7	GM	Lodici, Lorenzo	ITA	2570	7	9	45	33,75	2281	10	-2,6
4	1	GM	Dardha, Daniel	BEL	2650	6,5	9	53,5	37,25	2392	10	-5,2
5	16	IM	Travadon, Loic	FRA	2451	6,5	9	53	36,00	2448	10	20,6
6	8	GM	Amar, Elham	NOR	2546	6,5	9	50,5	35,75	2376	10	1,1
7	3	GM	Narayanan S, L	IND	2601	6,5	9	50,5	35,00	2388	10	-0,4
8	9	GM	Sokolovsky, Yahli	ISR	2546	6,5	9	50,5	34,75	2384	10	2,5
9	20	IM	Fromm, Marius	GER	2436	6,5	9	45,5	31,25	2324	10	8,1
10	23	IM	Yaniv, Yuval	ISR	2407	6,5	9	45	30,50	2337	10	12,8
11	2	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	IND	2643	6	9	52	33,00	2394	10	-10,7
12	28	FM	Bettalli, Francesco	ITA	2355	6	9	51	33,75	2491	20	61,2
13	15	IM	Admiraal, Miguoel	NED	2454	6	9	50,5	31,25	2360	10	5,4
14	10	GM	Moroni, Luca Jr	ITA	2545	6	9	48,5	30,00	2357	10	-4,6
15	26	GM	Ibrayev, Nurlan	KAZ	2367	6	9	44,5	26,25	2323	10	11,5

Check all the details here

Open-B Standings after Round 9

Rk.	SNo	Name	Gr	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	K	rtg+/-
1	56	Soghomonyan, Tigran		ARM	1748	7,5	9	50,5	41,75	1889	40	187,6
2	2	Beccaris, Gabriele		ITA	1971	7	9	45,5	34,50	1848	20	20,2
3	8	Gervasi, Pietro		ITA	1933	6,5	9	51	35,50	1877	40	52,8
4	6	Neri, Enzo		ITA	1950	6,5	9	48,5	34,25	1863	20	18,8
5	34	Benassi, Valentino		ITA	1831	6,5	9	48	34,25	1876	40	102,8
6	31	Naimanov, Rinat		KAZ	1846	6,5	9	47	31,25	1857	20	43
7	13	Fonda, Marco		ITA	1919	6,5	9	43	27,25	1815	20	15,4
8	15	Winnubst, Paul		NED	1906	6	9	51,5	32,00	1903	40	58,8
9	4	Saheb, Kamel		ALG	1962	6	9	49	30,75	1875	20	8,4
10	28	Merusi, Luigi		ITA	1857	6	9	48	29,50	1857	20	29,6
11	19	Peretti, Eva		ITA	1889	6	9	46,5	29,75	1810	40	21,6
12	24	Natoli, Alessia		POL	1873	6	9	41,5	25,00	1806	40	29,6
13	32	Cibellis, Lorenzo		ITA	1845	6	9	39,5	24,75	1785	40	34,4
14	16	Xu, Ten Lon		ITA	1899	6	9	38	22,50	1777	20	2,4
15	3	Nassa, Nicolas		ITA	1969	5,5	9	53,5	31,50	1879	40	-4,4

Check the full standings here

Open-C Standings after Round 9

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	K	rtg+/-
1	9		Sushrutha, Reddy	IND	1614	8	9	51	45,50	1571	20	59,2
2	21		Kienboeck, Samuel	AUT	1489	7	9	46,5	33,50	1555	40	110,8
3	8		Mei, Mattia	ITA	1617	6,5	9	49,5	31,50	1544	40	23,6
4	17		Soghomonyan, Levon	ARM	1515	6	9	46,5	26,50	1527	20	19
5	14		Pajak, Radoslaw	POL	1556	5,5	9	50,5	26,25	1550	20	0,6
6	20	WCM	Yaqoob, Wafa	BRN	1493	5,5	9	50	27,00	1587	20	34,6
7	1		Pinto, Antonio Manuel	POR	1690	5,5	9	44	25,75	1573	20	-12,6
8	13		Ahmed, Najla	BRN	1565	5	9	46	22,50	1579	20	0,2
9	4		Agostinelli, Massimo	ITA	1665	5	9	46	22,00	1532	20	-16,4
10	15		Gunes, Poyraz	TUR	1552	5	9	44	21,00	1570	40	40,8
11	5		Jonsbu, Egil	NOR	1663	4,5	9	40,5	16,75	1541	20	-27,8
12	25		Bomboi, Gian Pietro	ITA	1399	4,5	9	38,5	16,75	1579
13	3		Sidoti, Francesco	ITA	1678	4,5	9	38,5	16,25	1540	40	-32,8
14	22		Ahmadi Niri, Ali	IRI	1482	4	9	44,5	17,50	1565
15	24		Carpenti, Marco	ITA	1404	4	9	42,5	15,25	1547

Check the full standings here

Round 9 Livestream: India 🆚 USA I | Narayanan Vs Yoo! | Sardinia World Festival 2025 | Video: Hindi ChessBase India

Round 9 Livestream: Loic 🆚 Lorenzo I Sardinia world chess festival 2025! | Video: UniChess Italy

Sardinia world chess festival 2025 ! Prize Ceremony | Video: UniChess Italy

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The Champions of Open-A and Open-B: Christopher and Tigran! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Grandmaster Oleg Romanishin won the Veteran's prize! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The President of the Italian Chess Federation, Luigi Maggi addressing the tournament hall | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The tournament director and Founder of UniChess, Roberto Mogranzini speaking! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

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