Ivan Sokolov shows his class in Salzgitter-Bad!

by Arne Kaehler
9/16/2025 – On 12 September, the sixth edition of the popular simultaneous chess series "Grandmaster Meets Amateurs" took place in the café of the Salzgitter-Bad Grammar School – featuring a world-class player: GM Ivan Sokolov. The Dutch-Bosnian grandmaster faced 31 opponents and showed an impressive form, scoring 30½–½. Only Jannes Haverlandt managed to withstand the pressure and secure a draw – surely an admirable achievement.
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Ivan Sokolov scores 30½ out of 31!

Sokolov himself emphasised that, for him, simultaneous exhibitions are not just a sporting competition but above all "a pleasant chess day" and an opportunity to meet people. In less than two and a half hours, he had finished all the games – a real "speedrun" simul!

Impressions from the simultaneous display in Salzgitter-Bad

The draw against Jannes Haverlandt (ChessBase tactical analysis)

Jannes Haverlandt was surely satisfied with his novelty, 10.c5!

Following the wonderful simul in March with star guest Vincent Keymer, organiser Christian Koschetzki, who has kept this series of simuls alive with great commitment, and the Salzgitter Chess Association once again staged a splendid event.

Interview with Ivan Sokolov

In the interview with Arne Kaehler, Ivan Sokolov shared anecdotes from his youth, such as how at the age of seven he managed a draw against the newly crowned world champion Anatoly Karpov and later also played against Viktor Korchnoi.

For him, the biggest challenge is maintaining the pace and concentration for several hours - and yet, for everyone involved, it should mostly be "a pleasant chess day".

Check out Karsten Müller's Endgame Magic show with Ivan Sokolov!

Who took part?

Pupils and teachers from the Salzgitter-Bad Grammar School and the nearby Kranich Grammar School, as well as club members, faced the grandmaster from Jajce, who in 2022 led the Uzbek national team to gold as a trainer in Chennai.

The school café is a wonderful playing venue

Those who lost did not have to be sad, as ChessBase provided consolation prizes: the complete collection of Ivan Sokolov's works, as well as the latest ChessBase Magazine issues, especially for the younger players. Every copy was signed by Sokolov!

Ivan Sokolov took the time to sign every one of his excellent training titles

When asked how to trip up the Dutch GM over the board, here were some of the answers:

"I just try to play as long as possible".

"He is bound to make a mistake at some point".

"I'll surely lose, but maybe I can learn something".

"Fighting for a draw seems realistic to me".

Thanks to the support of the Lower Saxony Lotto Sport Foundation and the Förderverein Salzgitter-Bad (Martin Gosch and Kevin Chant), this event can be organised every six months, and in 2026 a few top stars will surely walk the 10,000 to 20,000 steps around the boards.

The author of these lines tried to set many traps, which all fizzled out harmlessly

In the last game played, against Christian Tworuschka, the GM sat down. Nothing could go wrong here any more

In the background on the left, new headmaster Martin Ehrenberg and Jörg Tenninger of the Lower Saxony Chess Federation look on

The next simul in Salzgitter-Bad

Since this series of events takes place every six months, we can already look forward to March 2026! As Christian Koschetzki revealed to me, contact has already been made with several super-grandmasters who are willing to take part.

We at ChessBase are already very much looking forward to it.

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Arne Kaehler, a creative mind who is passionate about board games in general, was born in Hamburg and learned to play chess at a young age. By teaching chess to youth teams and creating chess-related videos on YouTube, Arne was able to expand this passion and has even created an online course for anyone who wants to learn how to play chess. Arne writes for the English and German news sites, but focuses mainly on content for the ChessBase media channels.