The European Champion Alexander Indjic heads the field, but his task will be far from easy. There are a total of 600+ players and 73 of them are titled, including GMs Nijat Abasov, Aydin Suleymanli, Jobava Baadur, Mahammad Muradli, Ahmad Ahmadzada, Mittal Aditya, Vahap Sanal etc. Top rated female players in the open are WGM Ravi Rakshitta and WIM Ayan Allahverdiyeva Scroll down for the full list.

The Baku Open will be viewed even more closely this year, after the publication of GM Vasif Durarbayli Progress, Decline, and Solutions for Azerbaijani Chess

Baku Open is one of the many massive opens this spring. More massive chess tournaments: The biggest tournament in Africa with 7000+ players / Grenke Chess 2025 / Supernationals with 6000+ players / Bengaluru Open with 2200+ players

Baku Chess Open will be among the featured tournaments in the first editions of the Chessdom Newsletter that ALREADY STARTED week. Signup for FREE with your email in the form below

Baku Chess Open 2025 LIVE

Baku Chess Open 2025 participants

This game is from Round 4 of the event – Aydin Suleymanli – Ihor Samunenkov.

Aydin Suleymanli – Ihor Samunenkov, European Individual Chess Championship 2024

This game is from Round 3 of the event – Nikolozi Kacharava – Aydin Suleymanli.

Nikolozi Kacharava – Aydin Suleymanli, European Individual Chess Championship 2024

This is the game Aydin Suleymanli – Nodirbek Abdusattorov from round 3 of the European Chess Club Cup 2024.

More: European Chess Club Cup 2024 participants list / European Women Chess Club Cup participants / European Chess Club Cup – round 1 and 2 report
Live: Open section / Women section / Video

Aydin Suleymanli – Nodirbek Abdusattorov, European Chess Club Cup 2024

Throwback: Nodirbek Abdusattorov wins Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2022 / The first Vugar Gashimov Memorial with Carlsen and Nakamura / Unveiling of the Vugar Gashimov monument

Live games from the Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2024 will be live, in cooperation with Lichess

Accommodation trouble: Read more: Monaco, Scotland and Germany break the news / Turkey reports problems / England on accommodation issues / GM Jankovic on the situation of Croatia / Anish Giri critical of the situation

Team Azerbaijan is 15th seeded in the open section. Board 1 is for Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and his teammates are Rauf Mamedov, Nijat Abasov, Aydin Suleymanli, Mahammad Muradli.

In the women section team Azerbaijan is ranked 6th and consists of Gunay Mammadzada, Govhar Beydullayeva, Khanim Balajayeva, Ulviyya Fataliyeva, Gulnar Mammadova.

The captains of the open and women team of Azerbaijan are Teimour Radjabov and Mihail Shereshevsky.

Youngsters watch: GM Daniel Dardha, Volodar Murzin, and Aydin Suleymanli (all are U18), are just 1 point behind the leader. GM Frederik Svane and Vignir Vatnar Stefansson, U20, is with the same points
Top woman: Aleksandra Goryachkina and Olga Badelka are with 3,5/5
Today: Live games round 6

European Individual Chess Championship 2023 live games / European Individual Chess Championship participants

GM Antov Korobov (UKR, 2658) remained perfect at the European Individual Chess Championship 2023 after winning a masterpiece against his fellow countryman GM Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR, 2655) in today’s fifth round. Korobov first squeezed Ponomariov’s pieces, continuing with the fantastic positional pawn sacrifice. It was game over for the former FIDE World Champion after 26…Qh2? as Korobov found the impressive tactical motive. Everything was hanging, but Ponomariov couldn’t defend the weakened back rank.

GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE, 2608) drew against GM Boris Gelfand (ISR, 2674) to join the runner-up group. The game finished after only 14 moves of play, even though Gelfand had a slightly better position according to the engines.

IM Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis (GRE, 2520) defeated GM Rasmus Svane (GER, 2620) in a very interesting but drawish endgame. The German grandmaster made a terrible mistake with 58…Bb5?? and Stamatis used the opportunity to score the full point.

GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE, 2651) was convincing against GM Leon Livaic (CRO, 2569). The former has been improving the advantage through the game, eventually winning the pawn-up endgame.

In the meantime, GM Giga Quparadze (GEO, 2483) scored against GM Emre Can (TUR, 2600) having Black pieces. Quparadze came out of the opening with two pawns up, and the rest was a perfect technique.

The 6th round starts tomorrow at 15:00 CEST, with the clash between Thai Dai Van Nguyen and Anton Korobov on the first board. The top 10 pairings are:

Pairings round 6