Hannes Stefansson wins Open event of 1st Prague International Chess Festival and qualifies for the 2020 Challengers tournament! The Icelandic Grandmaster drew the final round with Evgeny Vorobiev and finished the event undefeated with 7,5 points out of 9. There was a five-way tie for the second place, but thanks to better tie-breaks, 2nd place went to GM Alexander Zubov from Ukraine and 3rd to his compatriot Eldar Gasanov.

The best ranked women player of the event is IM Alina Kashlinskaya from Russia, with 6,5 points. Second best is young Bulgarian player FM Nurguyl Salimova with 6 points.

Young Czech International Master Tadeaš Kriebel, current Academic World Champion, finished the event with 7 points, and the last round victory brought him the 2nd GM norm.

Top round 9 results: Vorobiov vs Stefansson 1/2, Stany vs Bakhmatsky 1/2, Kashlinskaya vs Sedlak 1/2, Zubov vs Rasik 1-0, Cernousek vs Demuth 1/2, Rakesh vs Kriebel 0-1, etc. Final standings the Open event can be found on Chess-Results.

The winner of the E tournament became Sofiane Anis Amellal from Algeria with excellent 8,5 points. Second place went to Jiri Svetly, and third to Lubos Skopec, both Czech players with 5,5 points. Final standings

Tournament F was won by Petr Soucek from Czech Republic with 7 points. Vaclav Ruzicka came second with 5,5 points, while Jaromir Krupansky came third with 5 points,thanks to better tie-breaks. Final Standings

Petr Paseka won Tournament G with great result of 8,5 points. Adam Holub came second with 6, and Timea Haasova finished third with 5,5 points. Final standings

The closing ceremony for the Open and rating events was held shortly after the finish of the tournaments, in the playing hall in Don Giovanni Hotel in Prague, in the presence of the Tournament Director Petr Boleslav, Chief Arbiter of the Festival IA Pavel Votruba and founder of Pardubice Open, on behalf of Avekont Mr. Jiří Petružálek.

Photos of Open closing ceremony are available on the media page, or on Zonerama.

The inaugural Prague International Chess Festival was held in Don Giovanni Hotel in Prague, from 5th to 16th March. It consisted of two closed events - Masters and Challengers, main Open event, and three rating tournaments - E, F and G. The Challengers event was won by Spanish Grandmaster David Anton Guijarro, who will play the Masters event in 2020. Russian Grandmaster Nikita Vitiugov triumphed at Masters tournament.

Congratulations to the winners, and all participants for fair play and fighting chess. This concludes the 1st edition of the Prague International Chess Festival. See you next year!