An intense week of chess at Oberbank's Donauforum in Linz has come to an end. Alongside the closed 2026 Austrian Championship, the strong Oberbank Challenger Open was also held. In both tournaments, the battle for the top places remained open until the final round.
Ten qualified players competed over nine rounds in the Austrian Championship. In the end, GM Dominik Horvath prevailed with 6½ points, successfully defending his Austrian national title. He edged out IM Laurenz Borrmann on tiebreaks, with Borrmann also scoring 6½ points. Borrmann capped a strong performance by earning a grandmaster norm. The bronze medal went to IM Valentin Baidetskyi, who scored 6 points.
Although he narrowly missed out on the title, Laurenz Borrmann had reason to celebrate: he remained unbeaten and earned a GM norm | Photo: Peter Kranzl
Before the penultimate round, Borrmann stood half a point ahead of Horvath. Two rook endgames in that round were to decide the championship. Borrmann turned a winning position into a drawn setup - and then agreed to a draw when the position became winning again. Meanwhile, Horvath's game was a rollercoaster: he repeatedly let a winning position slip, only to win in the end.
Valentin Baidetskyi finished outright third | Photo: Peter Kranzl
Borrmann could therefore quite easily have gone into the final round with a full-point lead. Instead, the two players entered round nine level on points. Borrmann secured the GM norm and second place with a draw. Horvath retained his title thanks to his superior tiebreak score. Baidetskyi missed the chance to join the pair on the same score - he drew with Peter Balint and finished outright third.
The round-four encounter between the two top seeds, Dominik Horvath (left) and Felix Blohberger, ended in a draw. | Photo: Peter Kranzl
Felix Blohberger remained unbeaten in the tournament. However, as he drew every game before his final-round victory, he finished fourth, 1½ points behind the leaders. Here is his analysis of his final-round win over Lukas Leisch:
Ruben Gideon Köllner won the Oberbank Open unbeaten | Photo: Peter Kranzl
A total of 117 players competed in the Oberbank Challenger Open. Here too, the outcome was not decided until the final round. IM Ruben Gideon Köllner defended his lead with a draw against 15-year-old Florentin Stickler and won the tournament with 7½ points. A trio followed on 7 points. Jakob Postlmayer finished second on tiebreaks and at the same time secured the Upper Austrian state title. The 15-year-old Florentin Stickler took an impressive third place, while David Schernthaner finished fourth.
They were followed by a group of five players on 6½ points, including the two highest-placed women: Olga Badelka in sixth and Swaminathan Soumya in ninth. Badelka thus became Austrian Women's Champion, ahead of Veronika Exler and Alina Donets.
The top three from the round-robin and the Women's Championship, which was incorporated into the Open (from left): Veronika Exler, Laurenz Borrmann, Dominik Horvath, Valentin Baidetskyi, Olga Badelka and Alina Donets | Photo: Peter Kranzl
| Rk. | Name | Elo | Pts. | TB1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IM | Koellner, Ruben Gideon | 2531 | 7.5 | 50.5 |
| 2 | IM | Postlmayer, Jakob | 2440 | 7 | 51 |
| 3 | FM | Stickler, Florentin | 2278 | 7 | 49 |
| 4 | FM | Schernthaner, David | 2380 | 7 | 46.5 |
| 5 | FM | Leitgeb, Julian | 2298 | 6.5 | 50.5 |
| 6 | IM | Badelka, Olga | 2416 | 6.5 | 46.5 |
| 7 | IM | Grötz, Harald Mag. | 2221 | 6.5 | 46.5 |
| 8 | Poon, Pak Yu | 2124 | 6.5 | 45 | |
| 9 | IM | Soumya, Swaminathan | 2266 | 6.5 | 42 |
| 10 | MK | Obermayr, Hermann | 2052 | 6 | 47 |
| 11 | CM | Prober, Raphael | 2156 | 6 | 46 |
| 12 | CM | Steinhauer, Artur | 2187 | 6 | 45 |
| 13 | FM | Wendl, Philipp | 2289 | 6 | 44 |
| 14 | WIM | Exler, Veronika | 2167 | 6 | 44 |
| 15 | Kölber, Daniel | 2255 | 6 | 42.5 | |
| 16 | FM | Sandhöfner, Florian | 2222 | 6 | 40.5 |
| 17 | WCM | Sri, Darshini T | 1926 | 6 | 40.5 |
| 18 | CM | Hofstadler, Mario | 2135 | 6 | 40 |
| 19 | Wimmer, Michael | 2111 | 6 | 37.5 | |
| 20 | Mayrhuber, Tobias | 2131 | 6 | 36.5 |
As in the national championship, the time control was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move. The 2026 Austrian Women's Championship was also held as part of the Challenger Open. The three highest-placed players with an Austrian FIDE ID also earn places in next year's Austrian Championship. Foreign participants can win the tournament and the Open prize money, but they are not eligible for this particular qualification.
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