Josefine Heinemann clear first at 56th International Women's Tournament, Bhakti Kulkarni second

by Shahid Ahmed - 26/03/2025

WGM Josefine Heinemann (GER) scored an unbeaten 7/9 to win 56th International Women's GM Tournament 2025. Josefine finished a full point ahead of the runner-up. IM Bhakti Kulkarni secured second place scoring sole 6/9. WIM Jovana Srdanovic (SRB) was placed third 5.5/9. Josefine drew with both Bhakti and Jovana. The nine-day nine round Round-Robin Rating tournament was organized by Šahovski savez Beograda (Chess Federation of Belgrade) in Beograd, Serbia from 1st to 9th March 2025. Photo: Official site

No tie-breaks needed for top three

All participants received appropriate gifts, which were presented to them by Blagoje Popović, the owner of the company "Bobeks" and Vesna Senić, the director of the tournament. The trophy was handed over to the second place by the president of the Serbian Football Association, Andrija Jorgić, and the cup and laptop computer to the winner – Vladimir Šakotić, president of the Belgrade Football Association, who in his final address declared the tournament closed. (Translated by Bing)

Champion - WGM Josefine Heinemann (GER) 7/9 | Photo: Official site

Check out Josefine's analysis on her blog.

Ich habe das Turnier gewonnen! (I won the tournament!, German audio) | Video: Josefine Heinemann

Runner-up - IM Bhakti Kulkarni 6/9 | Photo: Official site

Top 3 (L to R): 2nd IM Bhakti Kulkarni 6/9, 1st WGM Josefine Heinemann (GER) 7/9 and 3rd WIM Jovana Srdanovic (SRB) 5.5/9 | Photo: Official site

In addition to the cash prize, Jovana also received a special gift – a weekend in the "JAT apartments" on Kopaonik, while Sofija Pogorelskih earned a weekend in the "Marshal" hotel in Belgrade with the fifth place. In addition to the "Be nature" program of the company "Bobeks", all participants were given a cosmetic program of the Aesthetic Studio "Džunić". (Translated by Bing)

Trophies for the prize winners | Photo: Official site

A total of ten players including an IM, three WGMs and two WIMs took part from Germany, India, Montenegro and Serbia. The nine-day nine round Round-Robin Rating tournament was organized by Šahovski savez Beograda (Chess Federation of Belgrade) in Beograd, Serbia from 1st to 9th March 2025. The time control of the event was 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay all games

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	6	WGM	Heinemann, Josefine	GER	2297	7	0	5	27,75	3,5	9	7	5,30	1,70	20	34
2	5	IM	Kulkarni, Bhakti	IND	2357	6	0	3	25,75	3	9	6	6,07	-0,07	10	-0,7
3	4	WIM	Srdanovic, Jovana	SRB	2207	5,5	0	2	22,50	2,5	9	5,5	4,09	1,41	20	28,2
4	1	FM	Borisova, Ekaterina	FID	2241	5	1	3	19,50	2	9	5	4,55	0,45	20	9
5	10	WIM	Pogorelskikh, Sofia	SRB	2313	5	0	2	19,50	2	9	5	5,51	-0,51	20	-10,2
6	7	FM	Zherebtsova, Alexandra	MNE	2229	4,5	0	3	17,00	2	9	4,5	4,38	0,12	20	2,4
7	8	WGM	Mehmed, Elif	SRB	2265	4	1	2	16,00	1,5	9	4	4,86	-0,86	20	-17,2
8	2	WGM	Chelushkina, Irina	SRB	2134	4	0	3	13,50	2	9	4	3,11	0,89	10	8,9
9	9	WFM	Vujovic, Vera	SRB	2174	2,5	0	0	11,25	2	9	2,5	3,63	-1,13	40	-45,2
10	3	WFM	Mijic, Sara	SRB	2164	1,5	0	0	6,25	0,5	9	1,5	3,50	-2,00	40	-80