Pranav Venkatesh set to take on World's Top players at 8th Salamanca Chess Festival 2025

Equal number of men and women in the same tournament at the 'Cradle of Modern Chess'

Alumni – University of Salamanca is organizing the 8th Chess Festival "Salamanca, the Cradle of Modern Chess" in Salamanca from October 21st to 25th. This festival commemorates the fact that the newly created rules of modern chess were compiled in our city in 1497. These new rules were written by Lucena, a student at this University, who published them in an incunabulum entitled " The Art of Chess with 150 Match Games." One of these copies is preserved in the University's Historical Library.

The Festival includes a wide program of activities:

• A Masters Tournament featuring six leading figures in world chess, with an equal number of male and female players. The competition will be played using a double-round-robin format, with games lasting 30 minutes plus a 5-second increment per move.

• Conferences

• Simultaneous games

• Blitz Chess Tournament

• Children's Chess Tournament

• Educational Chess Congress

• International Open “Pablo de Unamuno Tournament”

Players

Nadya Toncheva is a young Bulgarian player and one of the most promising players in European chess. Her international breakthrough came at the 2023 European Championship in Petrovac, where she finished among the best. She brilliantly endorsed it the following year in Rhodes, finishing tied for second in a tournament with nearly 200 players and all the leading figures in continental chess. She has qualified for the last two World Cups and holds the title of Grandmaster.

Julio Granda Zúñiga is an International Chess Grandmaster from Peru. His extensive and distinguished career includes a World Veterans Championship (under 50 years old), four Pan American Championships, and an Ibero-American Championship, in addition to numerous other victories in prominent international tournaments.

Sara Khadem holds the title of International Master and Woman Grandmaster. Despite her youth, she is one of the best chess players today and has a brilliant athletic record with notable titles such as triumphs in the Under-12 and Under-16 Continental Championships and the Under-12 and Under-16 World Championships, as well as the World Junior Runner-up. Sara has also competed in the Olympics with the Iranian national team. She is currently a member of the Spanish national team. In 2023, she was crowned Spanish Champion. In 2024, she was crowned European Runner-up in blitz chess, and in 2025 in rapid chess.

Ruslan Ponomariov: He is a Grandmaster from Ukraine, a title he won at just 14 years old, and a few years later, at just 18, he became the youngest World Champion in history. Before winning the top title, Ruslan, despite his young age, had already achieved brilliant successes, such as winning the European and World Under-18 Championships at 12 and 14 years old respectively. He is also the champion of the 7th edition of the festival.

Sabrina Vega holds the titles of International Master and Women's Grandmaster. Sabrina has been crowned Spanish Champion nine times. Her distinguished career includes her runner-up in the Women's European Championship in 2016. Sabrina has been part of the Spanish team in numerous Olympic Games and European Championships. In 2021, Sabrina was awarded the Queen Sofia Award in recognition of her resignation from competing in the 2018 World Championships in Saudi Arabia in protest of the playing conditions for women.

Pranav Venkatesh is a young Indian Grandmaster and one of the country's brightest chess prospects. He earned his title at just fifteen years old and has since enjoyed a brilliant career with major titles to his name. This year, in March, in the Montenegrin city of Budva, he became the newly crowned World Junior Champion after completing an impressive score of 9 out of 11 points.

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Format

The tournament will be held in a six-player double round-robin format. The time control will be 30 minutes + 5 seconds increment and it will be rapid rating event.

Schedule

Round 1-3 will be played on 22nd October at 4 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. local time, 7:30 p.m., 9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. IST. On Thursday 23rd October, there will be only one game. Round 4 will take place at 12:30 p.m. local time, 4 p.m. IST. Round 5-7 will take place on 25th October at 4 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. local time, 7:30 p.m., 9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. IST. Round 8-10 will be held on 26th October at 4 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. local time, 7:30 p.m., 9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. IST.

Round 1-3 pairings

Details

Links

Source

Tournament Regulations

Salamanca Chess: Official site, fb page, twitter and instagram

Festival Internacional de Ajedrez Salamanca: twitter and instagram