Dortmund: Song excels at blitz, Munkhdalai sole leader in the Open

by Stefan Liebig
8/5/2026 – "Playmakers on the chessboard" was the title of the high-profile blitz tournament used to determine the tie-break standings in the women's event. Song Yuxin won ahead of Nataliya Buksa and Klaudia Kulon. Dinara Wagner had to settle for fourth place. In the A Open, defending champion Matthias Bluebaum conceded his first half-point against IM Yu Tian Poh. The young German IM Luka Schwitkowski could have taken the outright lead after a strong game, but eventually lost a theoretically drawn endgame. As a result, his opponent Amilal Munkhdalai is the sole leader after four rounds. | Photos: Dariusz Gorzinski / Nils Rohde
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Playmakers on the chessboard

Initiative Pro Schach e.V., which is responsible for organising the Dortmund Chess Days, once again held the media-friendly tournament "Playmakers on the chessboard" this year, in which the order of the tiebreak for the International Women's Tournament is determined by a blitz tournament. The roughly 100 spectators at the German Football Museum were treated not only to an exciting tournament, but also to an interesting supporting programme.

Tournament director Patrick Zelbel opened the event together with the director of the German Football Museum, Tobias Moos, and welcomed star guest Marco Bode, who is connected to both sports. The former German international and 1996 European champion is himself a passionate chess player. He began playing the royal game when there was no longer a place in the football club in fifth grade and he instead chose the chess club.

In the subsequent talk with Patrick Zelbel, Bode shared a number of anecdotes from football and chess in a relaxed atmosphere, and also presented his project "Schach macht schlau". For some time, he has been involved in promoting chess in schools in his former sporting home of Bremen, and is campaigning for it to be integrated specifically into classroom teaching.

The young Dortmund chess talent Alexander Rogner played a blitz game with Marco Bode. Last year, Alexander became NRW champion in the under-12 age group and, at the same time, is a goalkeeper in the youth department of Bayer Leverkusen. Bode put up brave resistance against Alex, but in the end the 12-year-old won the exhibition game convincingly. | Photo: Official website

Blitz tournament

After the quiet second round in the main tournament, the players gave the spectators an exciting blitz tournament. Each player faced every rival once with the white pieces and once with the black pieces. It quickly became clear that Klaudia Kulon, Dinara Wagner, Song Yuxin and Nataliya Buksa would give nothing away. Halfway through the tournament, not a single game had ended in a draw.

Kulon made the best start to the tournament: the Polish player began with two wins with white against Song and Wagner. With the black pieces, however, things went much worse for her - she lost all three games. In the end, this was only enough for third place.

German national team player Dinara Wagner also failed to score any points with black. Despite a win against Kulon in the final round, she could no longer overtake the Polish player in the standings and finished fourth.

The tournament thus developed into a head-to-head race between Ukraine's Buksa and China's Song. Before the final round, Song was still half a point behind the leader Buksa. She played uncompromisingly for a win, but Buksa initially defended strongly and even obtained the better position. In mutual time trouble, however, the Ukrainian erred decisively - Song scored the full point and won the tournament.

This produced the following final standings and decided the order of the tiebreak for the International Women's Tournament:

1. Yuxin Song - 4 points
2. Nataliya Buksa - 3½ points
3. Klaudia Kulon - 2½ points
4. Dinara Wagner - 2 points

Secured the tiebreak advantage: Song Yuxin | Photo: Official website

Standings after round 2

All games

A Open: IM Munkhdalai the only player on 4 points

The leading group in the A Open has produced a sole leader: Amilal Munkhdalai from Mongolia is the last player with a perfect score of 4/4. He must defend that record in the next round against last year's winner, Matthias Bluebaum.

The leader's victory on the top board is the reward for his good defensive performance in the third-round game against FM Luka Schwitkowski, who plays for Bundesliga promoted side SV Erkenschwick 1923. At the end, the surprise leader had great luck that the German rising star, born in 2010, missed a drawing line in a technical endgame.

Matthias Bluebaum faces the sole leader, Amilal Munkhdalai, in Wednesday's fourth round | Photo: Dariusz Gorzinski

Another young German player produced the major surprise of the fourth round: FM Mykola Korchynskyi (2408) beat US GM Andrew Hong (2604) with black in a hard-fought game. Korchynskyi had the game under control from the start. Although he gave away his advantage several times, he ultimately took advantage of the mistakes made by his prominent opponent and is now, like Bluebaum, in the 12-player chasing group on 3½ points.

Round 4 results

Br. White Elo Pts. Result Pts. Black Elo
1
GM Blübaum, Matthias 2689 3 ½ - ½ 3 IM Poh, Yu Tian 2473
2
IM Itgelt, Khuyagtsogt 2425 3 ½ - ½ 3 GM Piorun, Kacper 2519
3
FM Schwitkowski, Luka 2340 3 0 - 1 3 IM Amilal Munkhdalai, 2481
4
GM Navara, David 2619 2½ 1 - 0 3 FM Silva, Pedro Gil 2351
5
GM Bilguun, Sumiya 2415 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Svane, Rasmus 2618
6
GM Hong, Andrew 2604 2½ 0 - 1 2½ FM Korchynskyi, Mykola 2408
7
IM Ahmadinia, Ebrahim 2410 2½ 0 - 1 2½ GM Amar, Elham 2587
8
IM Agrawal, Vantika 2399 2½ 0 - 1 2½ GM Ganguly, Surya Shekhar 2556
9
GM Raja, Rithvik R 2530 2½ 1 - 0 2½ FM Dahl, Christoph 2398
10
FM Heinrich, John 2398 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Kvaloy, Aksel Bu 2498

Standings after round 4

Rg. Name Pkt. TB1
1 Amilal Munkhdalai, 4 7,5
2 Piorun, Kacper 3,5 8,5
3 Belurkar, Nitish 3,5 8,5
4 Amar, Elham 3,5 8
5 Itgelt, Khuyagtsogt 3,5 8
6 Navara, David 3,5 8
7 Blübaum, Matthias 3,5 7,5
8 Poh, Yu Tian 3,5 7,5
9 Besou, Hussain 3,5 7
10 Ganguly, Surya Shekhar 3,5 7
11 Raja, Rithvik R 3,5 6
12 Korchynskyi, Mykola 3,5 6
13 Chinguun, Sumiya 3,5 5,5
14 Heinrich, John 3 9
15 Malinowsky, Levi 3 8,5
16 Schwitkowski, Luka 3 8,5
17 Zuferi, Enis 3 8,5
18 Acs, Peter 3 8
19 Gan-Erdene, Sugar 3 8
20 Parvanyan, Ashot 3 8
21 Schuricht, Emil Frederick 3 8
22 Ulziikhishig Khishigbat, 3 8
23 Bilguun, Sumiya 3 8
24 Hess, Max 3 8
25 Svane, Rasmus 3 7,5

...208 participants in total

All available games

A look ahead to day five

In the A Open, the following games, among others, will be played:

Bd. No. White Elo Pts. Pts. Black Elo No.
1 14
IM Amilal Munkhdalai, 2481 4 3½ GM Bluebaum, Matthias 2689
1
2 16
IM Poh, Yu Tian 2473 3½ 3½ GM Navara, David 2619
3
3 6
GM Amar, Elham 2587 3½ 3½ IM Belurkar, Nitish 2430
25
4 8
GM Ganguly, Surya Shekhar 2556 3½ 3½ IM Itgelt, Khuyagtsogt 2425
30
5 34
FM Korchynskyi, Mykola 2408 3½ 3½ GM Raja, Rithvik R 2530
9
6 10
GM Piorun, Kacper 2519 3½ 3½ IM Besou, Hussain 2420
31
7 42
IM Chinguun, Sumiya 2389 3½ 3 IM Gloeckler, Christian 2519
11
8 2
GM Kollars, Dmitrij 2627 3 3 WIM Mungunzul, Bat-Erdene 2392
41
9 4
GM Svane, Rasmus 2618 3 3 IM Hess, Max 2385
43
10 44
IM Xie, Felix 2384 3 3 GM Acs, Peter 2558
7

Round 3 of the International Women's Tournament:

Bd. No. Elo White Result Black Elo No.
1 4 2395
IM Kulon, Klaudia IM Song, Yuxin
2452 3
2 1 2409
IM Wagner, Dinara IM Buksa, Nataliya
2382 2
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Topics: Dortmund 2026, Song Yuxin
Stefan Liebig, born in 1974, is a journalist and co-owner of a marketing agency. He now lives in Barterode near Göttingen. At the age of five, strange pieces on his neighbour’s shelf aroused his curiosity. Since then, the game of chess has cast a spell over him. Flying high in the NRW youth league with his home club SV Bad Laasphe and several appearances in the second division team of Tempo Göttingen were highlights for the former youth South Westphalia champion.
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Dortmund: Two draws in the women's tournament, Bluebaum among the leaders in the A Open

8/4/2026 – Defending champion Matthias Bluebaum remains among the leaders in the A Open after claiming his third win in as many games, with the leading group now reduced to seven players. The second German in the top seven is IM Luka Schwitkowski. Rasmus Svane, meanwhile, has dropped out of the leading group after conceding half a point against Ebrahim Ahmadinia. In the International Women's Tournament, both Song Yuxin and Dinara Wagner, as well as tournament leader Nataliya Buksa (pictured) and Klaudia Kulon, agreed draws. | Photos: Dariusz Gorzinski

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Dortmund: Bluebaum and Svane get off to a winning start

8/2/2026 – Of the five players rated above 2600 at the main event of the Dortmund Chess Festival, only three began the tournament with a win on Saturday. Matthias Bluebaum (2689, last year's winner) defeated Alfred Parvanyan (2200), Rasmus Svane (2618) beat Robert Prieb (2196) and Andrew Hong (2604) overcame Junyi Zhang (2191). Dmitrij Kollars (2627) and David Navara (2619), meanwhile, were both held to draws despite being rating favourites. | Photo: Official website
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