In the carefully crafted script of the Bundesliga season, the clash between reigning champions SC Viernheim and Düsseldorfer SK was supposed to be a dramatic finale. But when they met on the final day of the 2024-25 season, it was already clear that Düsseldorf would be the new German team champions in 2025.

This was largely due to Viernheim's disastrous start to the season. On the opening weekend - a double-header for most, but just a single match for Viernheim after Kiel's early withdrawal - the champions stumbled badly and suffered a surprise 5-3 defeat at the hands of Hamburger SK. It was Luis Engel and Julian Kramer who grabbed the crucial points for Hamburg, setting the tone for a season that would soon slip out of Viernheim's grasp.

On the second weekend of the Bundesliga, Viernheim dropped another point in a 4-4 draw against Werder Bremen.

This left OSG Baden-Baden as the only serious challenger to Düsseldorfer SK for the championship title. However, in round five, SC Viernheim rediscovered its form just in time, defeating the record champions and significantly denting Baden-Baden’s hopes.

The decisive showdown thus came in the seventh round, when Düsseldorf faced off against Baden-Baden — a match shadowed by the complaints of the Rhinelanders, who were missing several of their top players due to a scheduling conflict with the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee.

Even so, Düsseldorf was able to field an impressive lineup, featuring stars like Nepomniachtchi, So, Vidit, Sindarov, and Esipenko. That strength proved more than enough, as Düsseldorf secured a 'narrow' but convincing 5.5–2.5 victory. From their perspective, the job was done — mission accomplished. 

In the season finale in Deggendorf, Düsseldorf first won 6.5-1.5 against Solingen and then defeated Heimbach-Weis-Neuwied 5:3. It was Düsseldorf's sponsor, Wadim Rosenstein, the only unrated player in the Bundesliga, who suffered Düsseldorf's only loss in this match - he played on board eight and lost in 20 moves against IM Lukas Winterberg.

Going into the match against Viernheim, Düsseldorf had won all 14 of their matches. Viernheim, on the other hand, had stumbled at the start of the season and were missing three crucial points. Had they not done so, the title race could have gone down to the wire - especially as Viernheim were the only team to take a point from the newly-crowned champions.

German Grandmaster Dennis Wagner, who plays for Viernheim, won a nice game against Victor Bologan.

Bologan,V2600

0–1

Wagner,D2616

German Bundesliga 2024-252025

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 Bc5 6.c3 d6 7.Bg5 7.0-0 0-0 8.h3 Ba7 9.Re1 Ne7 10.d4 Ng6 11.Bc2 Bd7 12.Be3 Re8 13.Nbd2 a5 14.a4 0-1 (57) Warmerdam,M (2646) -Abdusattorov,N (2768) Wijk aan Zee 2025 7...h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 0-0 10.Nbd2 Nh5 11.Bxc6 bxc6 12.d4 exd4 13.Nxd4 Ng7 14.h4 f5?! 14...Bxd4 15.cxd4 f5= 15.Qb3+ Rf7 16.hxg5 16.Nxc6!? Qf6 17.hxg5 hxg5 18.Qd5± 16...Qxg5 17.Nxc6? This is too slow and allows Black to seize the initiative. Better was 17.N2f3 Qg4 18.e5± 17...Be6 18.Qb7 18.Qc2 18...Re8 19.Nf3 Qg6 Threatening ...f4. Also good was 19...Bxf2+ 20.Kxf2 20.Bxf2 Qxg2 21.Rg1 Qxf3-+ 20...fxe4+- 20.Nce5 dxe5 21.Nxe5 Qg5 22.Qc6 22.Nxf7 Bxf7 23.Qxc7 Rxe4+ 24.Kf1 f4 25.Bh4 Qd5-+ With two pieces for the rook and active pieces Black should be winning. 22...f4 23.Nxf7 Bxf7 24.Bh4 Qh5 25.f3 Be7 26.0-0-0 Bxh4 27.Rh2 27.Rd7 Qg5 28.Qxc7 Ne6 29.Qa7 Rf8-+ 27...Qg5 28.Rdh1 Bf2 29.Rxh6 Nh5 30.Qxa6 Kg7 31.Rc6 Qxg2 31...Qxg2 32.Rd1 Be3+ 33.Kb1 Qxf3-+ 33...Rb8-+ 0–1

But the golden days for Düsseldorf SK are over. Wadim Rosenstein will continue to support the club, but not to the same extent as he did during the championship season. His goal was to play in the Bundesliga and his goal was to win the title, and he achieved both.

While the outcome of the title race was predictable, the relegation battle was (slightly) more exciting. Following the reform of the second division, only three teams will be relegated, and Kiel was already certain to go down when they retired. Two other relegation places were still up for grabs. Going into the final rounds, Bayern München and Mülheim Nord occupied the two relegation spots. However, Bad Mergentheim, who was level on points, had officially played one more match than these two clubs - their match against Kiel.  

Mülheim Nord and Bad Mergentheim both managed to secure a point in round 13, but that was nowhere near enough, as Bayern Munich stormed into mid-table by winning all their three final matches. 

Final standings

Results round 15

	SK Kirchweyhe					3½	−	4½		Schachfreunde Deizisau
1	GM	2659		Ivan Saric		½	:	½		Dmitrij Kollars		2623	GM	2
3	GM	2586		Ante Brkic		½	:	½		Matthias Blübaum		2662	GM	3
4	GM	2568		Borki Predojevic		0	:	1		Benjamin Gledura		2666	GM	5
5	GM	2533		Denis Kadric		½	:	½		Gata Kamsky		2603	GM	6
6	GM	2595		Robert Markus		½	:	½		Tamas Banusz		2592	GM	7
7	GM	2545		Hrvoje Stevic		½	:	½		Rustem Dautov		2554	GM	11
8	GM	2505		Zoran Jovanovic		½	:	½		Alexander Graf		2518	GM	13
10	GM	2453		Aleksandar Kovacevic		½	:	½		Ruben Gideon Köllner		2499	IM	17
	SV Mülheim Nord					1½	−	6½		OSG Baden-Baden
1	GM	2665		David Navara		0	:	1		Vincent Keymer		2718	GM	5
2	GM	2582		Daniel Fridman		½	:	½		Rustam Kasimdzhanov		2678	GM	9
6	IM	2440		Valentin Buckels		0	:	1		Nikita Vitiugov		2670	GM	12
9	GM	2445		Daniel Hausrath		½	:	½		Etienne Bacrot		2633	GM	13
10	IM	2376		Dr. Volkmar Dinstuhl		0	:	1		Alexei Shirov		2650	GM	14
12	IM	2334		Theo Gungl		½	:	½		Sergei Movsesian		2591	GM	16
16	FM	2255		Bernhard Stillger		0	:	1		Bennet Hagner		2430	FM	17
17		2080		Tom Dordevic		0	:	1		Timur Kocharin		2263	FM	18
	SV Werder Bremen					3	−	5		FC Bayern München
2	GM	2623		Velimir Ivic		½	:	½		Seyed Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei		2661	GM	1
4	GM	2550		Aditya Mittal		0	:	1		Jaime Santos Latasa		2616	GM	3
7	GM	2570		Zahar Efimenko		0	:	1		Pouya Idani		2618	GM	5
10	GM	2538		Zbynek Hracek		½	:	½		Alvar Alonso Rosell		2546	GM	7
11	GM	2493		Vlastimil Babula		½	:	½		Felix Blohberger		2511	GM	8
13	IM	2452		Nikolas Wachinger		½	:	½		Klaus Bischoff		2425	GM	11
14	IM	2432		Spartak Grigorian		0	:	1		Linus Johansson		2392	IM	13
17	IM	2422		Collin Colbow		1	:	0		Michael Fedorovsky		2397	IM	14
	FC St. Pauli					2½	−	5½		SV Deggendorf
3	GM	2658		Johan-Sebastian Christiansen		0	:	1		Aleksandar Indjic		2644	GM	2
4	GM	2636		Jonas Bjerre		0	:	1		Diptayan Ghosh		2573	GM	3
7	GM	2570		Bartosz Socko		½	:	½		Gupta Sankalp		2548	GM	4
9	GM	2520		Igor Janik		1	:	0		Egor Krivoborodov		2540	GM	5
10	IM	2458		Aljoscha Feuerstack		½	:	½		Martin Petrov		2538	GM	7
11	IM	2420		Benedict Krause		½	:	½		Boban Bogosavljevic		2483	GM	8
13	FM	2342		Frank Sawatzki		0	:	1		Aleksander Delchev		2455	GM	9
15	FM	2337		Martin Voigt		0	:	1		Nikola Sedlak		2452	GM	11
	SK Doppelbauer Turm Kiel						−			SF Bad Mergentheim
	SK Doppelbauer Turm Kiel withdrew
	Hamburger SK					5	−	3		USV TU Dresden
2	GM	2640		Nils Grandelius		½	:	½		Thai Dai Van Nguyen		2668	GM	1
3	GM	2668		Frederik Svane		½	:	½		Jergus Pechac		2600	GM	3
4	GM	2625		Rasmus Svane		½	:	½		Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu		2579	GM	5
9	GM	2502		Gabor Papp		½	:	½		Peter Michalik		2563	GM	6
11	IM	2510		Leonardo Costa		1	:	0		Uwe Bönsch		2465	GM	10
12	GM	2470		Nikolas Lubbe		½	:	½		Raj Tischbierek		2418	GM	11
13	IM	2482		Julian Kramer		½	:	½		Jakov Loxine		2385	IM	13
16	GM	2418		Thies Heinemann		1	:	0		Gengchun Wong		2247	FM	16
	SG Solingen					2½	−	5½		SC Heimbach-Weis-Neuwied
1	GM	2622		Max Warmerdam		0	:	1		Leon Livaic		2536	GM	1
3	GM	2618		Erwin L'Ami		½	:	½		Martin Krämer		2577	GM	2
4	GM	2585		Markus Ragger		½	:	½		Jan Krejci		2508	GM	5
5	GM	2576		Mads Andersen		0	:	1		Stepan Zilka		2515	GM	7
6	GM	2608		Loek Van Wely		1	:	0		Jorge Joao Viterbo Ferreira		2549	GM	8
9	GM	2568		Jan Smeets		0	:	1		Jakub Kosakowski		2522	IM	11
13	IM	2441		Georg Halvax		½	:	½		Lukas Winterberg		2425	IM	12
15	IM	2413		Jörg Wegerle		0	:	1		Sven Tica		2436	IM	13
	Düsseldorfer SK					4	−	4		SC Viernheim
1	GM	2782		Arjun Erigaisi		½	:	½		Nodirbek Abdusattorov		2773	GM	2
4	GM	2748		Wesley So		1	:	0		Shakhriyar Mamedyarov		2748	GM	4
7	GM	2738		Anish Giri		½	:	½		Parham Maghsoodloo		2684	GM	5
10	GM	2706		Javokhir Sindarov		½	:	½		Alexey Sarana		2672	GM	6
11	GM	2681		Jorden Van Foreest		½	:	½		David Anton Guijarro		2639	GM	8
12	GM	2696		Andrey Esipenko		½	:	½		Anton Korobov		2626	GM	9
13	GM	2665		Raunak Sadhwani		½	:	½		Dr. Bassem Amin		2648	GM	10
15	GM	2605		Victor Bologan		0	:	1		Dennis Wagner		2607	GM	11

Links

• Schachbundesliga...
• Results on the website of the German Chess Federation...