Simon Knudsen and Benjamin Melde win Prague International Chess Festival 2025 Pair Blitz Open
FM Simon Knudsen (GER) and Benjamin Melde (GER) scored 18/22 to win Prague International Chess Festival 2025 K Pair Blitz Open. The top seed, IM Vadim Cernov (ROU) and his son, FM Henrik Cernov (GER) also scored the same. However, the German duo won the tournament as their third tie-break score was better than the Cernovs. The team of father and son were placed second. The team of 12-year-old kids - Krzysztof Zawal (POL) and Stanislaw Korszanski (POL) scored 15/22, edged past the Malaysian duo of CM Looi Xin Hao and Sivanesan Subramanian on tie-breaks to finish third. The top three prizes were CZK 2000, 1500 and 1000 each. Check out interview with the champion and a few exciting games. Photos: Shahid Ahmed
Top two seeds interchange their places
Pair Blitz was one of the many side events of Prague International Chess Festival 2025. It is, as the name suggests, a fun event. Any two players could form a team and participate. Me and my colleague from ChessBase, FM Johannes Fischer decided to team up for the first time. Of course as his rating suggests, he is a much stronger player. It was evident in his play as he scored 8/11. I scored only 4.5/11 which was my lowest score in over a decade. Anyway, the most important part is we enjoyed teaming up and playing together. We faced the top four finishers. Lost against the eventual champion and runner-up, drew with the team of 12-year-olds and defeated the fourth place finisher team from Malaysia in the final round to finish sixth.
Considering how terrible I played (being slightly under the weather for no one's fault but my own) and Johannes single-handedly pulled our team together for the majority of the tournament, sixth is a great finish. Most importantly, I played a team (although it was a duo) event after more than a decade. After losing the eighth and ninth round, we managed to beat the only team of two IMs in the penultimate round. It was a nice feeling to make a comeback there. We also got a material prize of coffee.
For more K Pair Blitz photos, please click here.
Video Gallery
A total of 26 pairs which means 52 players including three IMs took part from eight countries across the world. The one-day eleven round K Pair Blitz Open tournament was organized by Novy Bor Chess Club at Don Giovanni Hotel in Prague, Czechia on 5th March 2025. The time control of the event was 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment from move no.1.
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Knudsen-Melde | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 17,5 | 130 | |
| 2 | 1 | Cernov-Cernov | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 17,5 | 129 | |
| 3 | 13 | Zawal-Korszanski | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 15 | 128 | |
| 4 | 7 | Looi-Sivanesan | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 14,5 | 127 | |
| 5 | 4 | Nguyen-Tham | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 13 | 117 | |
| 6 | 3 | Fischer-Shahid | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 12,5 | 129 | |
| 7 | 5 | Narr-Sulzbacher | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 12,5 | 123 | |
| 8 | 15 | Ejsymont-Popczynska | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 12,5 | 119 |
Links
Prague Chess Festival: fb. twitter, instagram and youtube
