Bundesliga: Viernheim and Baden-Baden set the early pace

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
10/12/2026 – Defending champions SC Viernheim and perennial favourites OSG Baden-Baden are the only teams to have won all three matches in the opening weekend of the 2026/27 Chess Bundesliga. Viernheim lead on board points, while Bayern Munich sit third with 5/6 match points. The first three rounds saw encouraging results for promoted sides Bad Mergentheim and Remagen Sinzig, while Bayern Munich's Matic Lavrencic was the only player to score three wins in as many games. | Pictured: Viernheim's Aydin Suleymanli (2½/3 points) | Photo: Angelika Valkova
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Viernheim lead Baden-Baden on board points

The 2026/27 season of the German Chess Bundesliga began with three rounds played from 9 to 11 October. Defending champions SC Viernheim and OSG Baden-Baden emerged as the only teams to win all three of their matches, collecting 6 match points apiece. Viernheim lead the standings thanks to their higher board-point total, while FC Bayern Munich occupy sole third place with 5 match points. The opening weekend also saw encouraging results for two of the promoted teams and several notable individual performances.

The new Bundesliga season features 16 teams competing over eight boards, with a revised schedule comprising five three-round weekends rather than the seven weekends used previously. The competition began on Friday 9 October and will conclude with the final rounds all played in the same venue, at Neuwied on 2–4 April 2027.

David Navara

David Navara is playing for Solingen and obtained an upset win over Baden-Baden's Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in Friday's first round | Photo: Hans-Joachim Vitz

Viernheim and Baden-Baden entered the season as the principal title contenders, having once again assembled the two strongest squads on paper. Baden-Baden's registered lineup includes Fabiano Caruana, Javokhir Sindarov, Vincent Keymer and Viswanathan Anand, while Viernheim can call upon Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Jorden van Foreest, among others. Neither team fielded its strongest possible lineup during the opening weekend.

Defending champions Viernheim began their campaign with a convincing 7–1 victory over newly promoted SV Erkenschwick. They followed this up with a 5–3 win over SC Heimbach-Weis-Neuwied and a 5½–2½ victory over Werder Bremen. Their three victories yielded 17½ board points, 4 more than Baden-Baden accumulated in the same period.

Viernheim's latest success was secured largely through victories on the upper boards. Aravindh Chithambaram defeated Velimir Ivic, Aydin Suleymanli beat Luke McShane and David Anton overcame Ihor Samunenkov. Suleymanli, Aravindh and Georg Meier were among the team's most productive players over the three rounds, each collecting 2½ points.

Chess Bundesliga 2026

Pranav Anand and Vaclav Finek (Heimbach-Weis-Neuwied) facing David Anton and Alexey Sarana (Viernheim) in round two | Photo: Hans-Joachim Vitz

Baden-Baden also collected the maximum 6 match points, although all three of their encounters ended in narrow 4½–3½ victories. Their opening match against SG Solingen was particularly competitive, with Sonlingen's David Navara obtaining an upset victory over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on the top board. Wins by Maxime Lagarde and Etienne Bacrot nevertheless gave Baden-Baden the match.

The 16-time league champions subsequently defeated promoted side SC Remagen Sinzig, with Matthias Bluebaum and Alexander Donchenko providing the decisive victories. Their third match, against SV Deggendorf, was another close affair. Deggendorf's Martin Petrov defeated former FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov, but Baden-Baden collected enough points elsewhere to preserve their perfect record.

The contrasting margins of victory have left Viernheim comfortably ahead on board points, although both clubs remain level in the more important match-point standings.

Chess Bundesliga 2026

Richard Rapport and Pranav Venkatesh (St. Pauli) facing Rasmus and Frederik Svane (Hamburger) on Saturday | Photo: Reinhard Ahrens

Bayern Munich lead the chasing group

FC Bayern Munich are the closest pursuers, having collected 5/6 match points from two victories and a draw. The Bavarian club defeated Hamburger SK and local rivals MSA Zugzwang before sharing the points with FC St. Pauli in Sunday's third round.

The third-placed team from Munich drew on Sunday despite victories for St. Pauli's Richard Rapport and Pranav Venkatesh on the upper boards. Rapport defeated Kirill Alekseenko, while Pranav overcame Pouya Idani. Bayern compensated with victories further down the lineup, including wins by Alvar Alonso and Matic Lavrencic.

St. Pauli also began the season positively. The Hamburg club defeated MSA Zugzwang in round one before drawing against Hamburger SK and Bayern Munich, finishing the weekend on 4/6 match points. The derby against Hamburger SK was an unusual encounter, as all eight games ended in draws.

Four other teams are tied with St. Pauli on 4/6 match points: SK Kirchweyhe, SC Heimbach-Weis-Neuwied, SF Berlin and promoted side SF Bad Mergentheim. The latter enjoyed a particularly encouraging return to the top division, defeating Düsseldorfer SK 5–3 before recording draws against SF Berlin and Kirchweyhe.

Fellow newcomers Remagen Sinzig also made a good start. Led by Vasyl Ivanchuk, the team defeated Deggendorf 5½–2½ in the opening round, with victories for Andrei Volokitin, Peter Prohaszka, Shreyas Royal and Pawel Jaracz. Although they subsequently lost narrowly to Baden-Baden, Remagen drew with Solingen in round three and finished the weekend with a very respectable 3/6 match points.

The third promoted club, Erkenschwick, suffered three consecutive defeats.

Hracek (Werder Bremen) 1-0 Ferreira (Heimbach-Weis-Neuwied)

Annotations by Stefan Liebig

Standings after round 3

Chess Bundesliga 2026

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Lavrencic scores three wins in three games

Among the individual performers, Bayern Munich's Matic Lavrencic produced the best score of the opening weekend. The 18-year-old Slovenian international master, rated 2476, won all three of his games on board eight.

Lavrencic defeated grandmasters Thies Heinemann and Stefan Kindermann in the first two rounds, and then completed his perfect score with a victory over St. Pauli's Benedict Krause on Sunday. His contribution proved particularly valuable in Bayern Munich's drawn match against St. Pauli, in which the Munich team lost on two of the leading boards.

Several established players also recorded noteworthy results. Solingen's David Navara claimed one of the most significant individual victories of the opening round by defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, while St. Pauli's newcomers Richard Rapport and Pranav Venkatesh scored important wins against Bayern Munich.

The first three rounds also featured 12-year-old Argentine grandmaster Faustino Oro, representing Werder Bremen (1 out of 3), and 16-year-old Czech grandmaster Vaclav Finek, who plays for Heimbach-Weis-Neuwied (2 out of 3).

Chess Bundesliga 2026

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Matic Lavrencic

Matic Lavrencic playing black (board on the left) against Benedict Krause | Photo: Reinhard Ahrens

Faustino Oro

Faustino Oro during his debut for Werder Bremen | Photo: Angelika Valkova

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Topics: Bundesliga 2026/27
Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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