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15-Year-Old GM Savva Wins 11th Sunway Sitges International

by Niklesh Jain - 25/12/2024

Savva Vetokhin, a 15-year-old grandmaster, has won the Sunway Sitges International Chess Championship held in Sitges, Barcelona, Spain. With this victory, Savva becomes the youngest ever winner of this tournament. Savva secured the top spot by defeating Israel's Ido Gorshtein 2-0 in the final blitz tiebreak, marking the biggest title win of his career. Throughout the 10 rounds, Savva remained undefeated with 6 wins and four draws, scoring 8 points. Israel's Ido finished in second place, while tiebreaks were played for positions 3 to 8, which included India's llamanparthi. However, China's Li Di managed to secure the third position by defeating Tin Jingyao of Singapore. This year's Sunway Sitges Festival featured three blitz, one rapid, one 960 and one bullet tournament in addition to the classical format, with Iran's Mehdi Ghulami emerging as the overall best player. Read this article. Photo & Article by Niklesh Jain 

 

15-year-old Grand Master Savva becomes the winner of the 11th Sunway Sitges International Chess Championship

Sitges. Russia, which has long been the crown of chess, seems to be getting a new star of the next generation. 15-year-old Grand Master Savva Vetokhin has shown his talent to the world by winning the title of the eleventh edition of the prestigious Sunway Sitges International Chess Championship. 

Savva won this prestigious title by defeating Israel's Ido Gorshtein 2-0 in the tie-break match . In this 10-round tournament, after 10 classical rounds, there was a tie between Savva, playing under the FIDE flag, and Israel's Ido for the first and second positions with 8 points. In the tie-break held for the first place, Savva secured the first position by winning with a score of 2-0, he ensured the title victory by winning both matches. This is Savva's biggest title so far in his playing career. While talking to ChessBase India, Savva said that his victory over top seed Alekseenko Kirill in the eighth round was very special for him and he wants to become a world champion like Gukesh in the future.

Just before the final round, Savva was in sole lead with 7.5 points, but in the last round, there was an interesting draw between him and France's Jules Moussard.

With this title victory, 15-year-old Savva has now reached close to 2550 in live rating.

Attractive picture photo of the play-off: Miro UzChess

Under the tradition of Sunway Sitges, the play-off matches have always been played by the sea. However, this time, due to strong winds, it was a big challenge. Watch this video:

Six players, including India's llamparthi, were tied for third place with 7.5 points, resulting in a tie-break. To determine the final standings, blitz matches were played as per the tournament rules. In the tie-break, llamparthi was defeated by Singapore's top player, Grandmaster Tin Jingyao.

They had also played each other in the final classical round, resulting in a draw. Photo : Miro UzChess

In the tie-break match for third place, China's Li Di defeated Singapore's Tin Jingyao to secure third place.

Savva received €5000, Ido received €3000, and Li Di received €1500 as prize money.

Savva's name was inscribed on the tournament's prestigious trophy as the winner, and this was done by him personally. The top 10 players included Mahdi Gholami of Iran, Jules Moussard and Marc Andria of France, India's llamparthi, Luka Kiladze of Georgia, and Kirill Alekseenko of Austria.

Iran's Mobina Alinasab won the Best Female Player award

Having won all the faster time controls—Rapid, Blitz, and Bullet—in the tournament, Iran's Mahdi Gholami became the overall champion. He was awarded four trophies and a specially crafted medal.

A unique medal combining all formats!

These are the three key people behind the Sunway Sitges Tournament: Oskar, Francesc, and fran!

Celebration of a successful conclusion

They have found their 2024 winner and a new home

The 2024 Sunway Sitges edition concluded as anticipation builds for 2025

Video's!

Official Website of the tournament


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