Wroclaw Open: Top seed Donchenko within striking distance

by Stefan Liebig
12/17/2025 – Alexander Donchenko has recently made positive headlines at the World Cup, reaching the quarterfinals. Along the way, the German grandmaster scored a sensational victory against Le Quang Liem before being eliminated by Nodirbek Yakubboev. Donchenko is now competing in Poland at the Wroclaw Open A, where he is the top seed but has already suffered one defeat. | Photo: Donchenko at the World Cup | Photo: Michal Walusza
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More than just a chess tournament

The Wroclaw Chess Festival 2025 is a week-long chess event taking place from 13 to 19 December 2025 in Wrocław (Breslau), Poland. It is open to players of all playing strengths and combines several classical open tournaments with a wide range of side events, all hosted in the professionally organised setting of the Park Hotel Diament in the heart of the city.

At the core of the festival are the two main competitions, Open A and Open B. Open A is intended for players with a FIDE rating of 2100 and above, while Open B is aimed at ambitious club players up to around 2150 Elo. Both groups are played under the Swiss system with a classical time control of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds per move.

In addition, the festival features a blitz tournament, child-friendly sections (including a special “Dwarfs Tournament” for young children), a “First Step” tournament for beginners, simultaneous exhibitions with grandmasters, and a dedicated learning zone. The latter offers free workshops, teachers’ conferences, and activities for school groups. One of the festival’s distinctive formats is the Chess & Business Mixer, which combines chess with strategic networking.

The event attracts numerous international title holders and offers participants opportunities for both sporting and educational development. The festival is organised by the Fundacja Klub Szachowy Polonia Wrocław, with support from local partners and sponsors.

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In the A Open, Alexander Donchenko is the top seed, but he has already dropped ground. In round 3 he received a bye, costing him half a point, and in the following round he suffered a loss against the Indian player Vuppala Prraneeth. As a result, Donchenko is now one point behind the leaders. Here is his game from round 5.

Standings after round 5

Rk. Name Pts.  Tb1 
1 R, Ilamparthi A 4,5 13,5
2 Yaniv, Yuval 4,5 13,5
3 Gumularz, Szymon 4 13,5
4 Raczek, Krzysztof 4 12,5
5 Malek, Jan 4 12
6 H, Bharath Subramaniyam 4 12
7 Bernadskiy, Vitaliy 4 11,5
8 Prraneeth, Vuppala 3,5 13,5
9 Prasad, Dhulipalla Bala Chandra 3,5 13,5
10 Tutisani, Noe 3,5 13,5
11 Vaishali, Rameshbabu 3,5 13
12 Kazakouski, Valery 3,5 13
13 Sammed Jaykumar, Shete 3,5 13
14 Donchenko, Alexander 3,5 12
15 Bartel, Mateusz 3,5 12
16 Nguyen, Piotr 3,5 12
17 Kosakowski, Jakub 3,5 12
18 Sidhant, Mohapatra 3,5 12
19 Selbes, Tamer Tarik 3,5 11,5
20 Das, Priansh 3,5 11

106 participants

Tournament page

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Topics: Alexander Donchenko, Wroclaw Open
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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World Cup: Five players secure spots in round-of-16, Donchenko upsets Bluebaum

11/13/2025 – Cautious play dominated Wednesday's round-of-32 rematches at the FIDE World Cup in Goa, but five players still secured their places in the last sixteen. Le Quang Liem, Nodirbek Yakubboev and Alexander Donchenko (pictured) advanced with wins, while Levon Aronian and Jose Martinez held draws after leading from the first game. With the remaining matches heading to tiebreaks, several compelling clashes await as the field continues to narrow. | Photo: Michal Walusza
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CBM Extra #224: "The brilliancy"

4/2/2025 – At the end of last year, Alexander Donchenko won the Saint Louis Masters 2024 in the USA - level on points with Fabiano Caruana. The German grandmaster took the decisive step towards a shared tournament victory in his encounter with the American top player in the final round, which Donchenko won with the black pieces! ‘This is undoubtedly the biggest victory in a single game,’ summarises our author in his analysis in the new ChessBase Magazine Extra #224. Take a look at our latest reading sample in ChessBase Books format!
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60m How to fight Queen's Pawn Openigns

After 1.d4 d5 many players with White avoid the great amount of theory in the Slav, Semi-Slav, QGA and Orthodox Queen's Gambit and do not therefore play 2.c4. This is not very ambitious, but the painful experience of many chess players has been that the Colle System, the Trompowsky Attack, the Torre Attack and the London System are nevertheless extremely dangerous. Black has to be prepared for each of these openings and IM Valeri Lilov offers you some help with his six instructive videos, in which he demonstrates for each single opening a relevant plan for Black. In addition to the openings mentioned, the Bulgarian trainer also delves into the Catalan, the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and the Richter-Veresov Opening.