A surprise visit by a former world champion

At check-in, all participants were welcomed with a cloth bag printed with the Eurochess 2026 logo, filled with several giveaways as well as a recently published, hand-signed book by GM Viswanathan Anand. Until that point, it had been a surprise which grandmasters would be taking part in the side programme in Eltville.

Before the "optional" part came the main business: the most important part of the event was the rapid chess tournament, with individual and team standings, played over nine rounds using the Swiss system. Before the start, there was a minute's silence for GM Jan Timman, who died in February 2026 and had taken part in the side programme at the Eurochess tournament in Amsterdam in 2023. With 98 players - a few more than last year in Budapest, Hungary - there were more people on site in Eltville than at any Eurochess event for a long time. Unfortunately, no new participation record was set because of two late withdrawals.

Fritz 21

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Group photo at the ECB | Photo: Gerd Densing

Top seed Harry Li of the Bank of England started on board one and did not leave it until the end of the tournament. He played very convincingly and won the individual standings with an incredible 9 points from 9 games, ahead of Mario Castiglione from Slovakia with 7½ points and FM Razvan-Alexandru Sebe-Vodislav of Team Luxembourg with 7 points. The second seed, a FIDE Master, had already lost in round three to Albert Termeulen from the Netherlands, and after his defeat in round eight against Harry Li on board one, overall victory for the Bank of England player was already secured before the final round.

Harry Li told me that he had been quite lucky in some games. He particularly mentioned the encounters against WFM Gulsana Barpiyeva, who was the top woman scorer in the tournament, and Wladislaw Galkin - both from the Deutsche Bundesbank - in rounds three and four. In the game against Galkin, he at one point had only 2 seconds left on the clock and, a few moves later, with 8 seconds against 10 seconds, was able to benefit from a careless mistake in which his opponent blundered a rook. Shortly afterwards, another opponent two boards further back also gave away a queen in time trouble. Sometimes there is generosity in chess.

WFM Gulsana Barpiyeva was the best woman in the field with 6 points - but she lost this game against tournament winner Harry Li | Photo: Gerd Densing

The top 15

98 participants...

Marc Ghysels (left) against Mario Castiglione, who finished second | Photo: Gerd Densing

The surprising 5.Bf4 in the Carlsbad

The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
Almost all games in the Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation start with 5.Bg5, but the modern 5.Bf4 is just as strong and less known. Patterns are very similar, but there are a couple of very nice details that ask Black numerous difficult questions. This 60-Minutes course is a great addition for 1.d4-players. The play against an Isolated Queen’s Pawn or the fierce and household “minority-attack” are very thematic and provide active and interesting play. Black is often stuck with their bad light-squared bishop. The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
Free video sample: Introduction

FM Razvan-Alexandru Sebe-Vodislav (left) finished third - here he is playing against Albert Termeulen | Photo: Gerd Densing

Each round's top five encounters were played on DGT boards. On this occasion, sincere thanks go to Nadja Jussupow, who brought the DGT boards and clocks. The 45 recorded games, which were shown live in the playing hall on two screens and broadcast online, can be replayed here.

International Arbiter Nadja Jussupow also acted as chief arbiter. Hans Brugger served as the second International Arbiter, while photographer and reporter Gerd Densing also acted as assistant arbiter when needed.

Team standings

For the team standings, the four best individual results from each team or country were counted. As a rule, the central bankers from the respective countries compete in teams of six. Some, however, had only three, four or five players. Austria had only one player, while Portugal and other teams had more than six players, so several mixed teams were formed for the team standings. This also included, alongside the Deutsche Bundesbank and ECB teams, a mixed team of the two hosts.

Winning team: France | Photo: Gerd Densing

The lead in the team standings changed hands several times during the tournament. Until shortly before the end, the Deutsche Bundesbank team led the standings. After several individual defeats in the final round, France and Luxembourg overtook them.

Anything but ordinary: the Luxembourg players receive their prize from a former world champion. In the background, seated are Hans-Walter Schmitt (left) and Artur Yusupov. | Photo: Gerd Densing

Master Class Vol. 12: Viswanathan Anand

This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors how to successfully organise your games strategically, and how to keep your opponent permanently under pressure.

The French team, which has been among the frontrunners for many years and, alongside Belgium and the Netherlands, has almost always been regarded as one of the favourites, narrowly won the team standings with 25 points. The Luxembourg team followed on tiebreak; it consisted of employees of the Central Bank of Luxembourg and the Luxembourg-based European Investment Bank (EIB). Third place went to the Deutsche Bundesbank team with 23½ points, ahead of the Netherlands with 23 points and co-hosts ECB with 22½ points.

...18 teams

Meeting Viswanathan Anand

On Saturday morning, after breakfast, two large coaches took the participants to Frankfurt, to the headquarters of the European Central Bank in the striking high-rise building incorporating the former Frankfurt wholesale market hall, which is a listed monument. At the ECB, there was an interesting tour of around 90 minutes inside the architecturally remarkable building. From there, the group walked a little over a kilometre along the Main to the "Main Nizza" restaurant. During a pleasant gala lunch, the guests were already able to meet the afternoon's ever-friendly VIP guest, GM Viswanathan Anand, who was accompanied by his long-time friend Hans-Walter Schmitt.

Back in Eltville, after some friendly words of welcome, including from Hans-Walter Schmitt, a short half-hour lecture began at around 15:30. Top grandmaster and five-time classical world champion Viswanathan Anand showed a very recent game between Zhu Jiner and Nodirbek Abdusattorov from the TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2026 on the theme of "prophylaxis". It showed that, with entirely unexpected best moves, chess can sometimes be fascinatingly incomprehensible.

A world champion up close: Viswanathan Anand in the team simul | Photo: Gerd Densing

The team simultaneous exhibition began at 16:00 on 17 boards. At earlier Eurochess events there had usually been a blitz tournament or sometimes a reading. Several years ago in Amsterdam, GM Jan Timman had presented endgame studies. A team simul had been held for the first time the previous year in Budapest, where Judit Polgár had a very difficult time on 18 boards and had to accept several defeats and a number of draws. She had won the simul only narrowly, 10½–7½. GM Anand was apparently forewarned and acted with great concentration.

He evidently coped well with the increased volume of the "consultation games", familiar from old films or from the latest version of the film "The Royal Game". Many exciting games arose. The team order was based on the ranking from the previous day’s team standings, with the first five games also transmitted and recorded via DGT boards.

Games

After a little over four hours of play, the simul ended shortly after 20:00. GM Anand did not lose a single game and conceded only five draws against very strong opposition, including several players rated above 2000. After individual games ended, he stayed at the boards for brief analysis. He remembered one or two earlier games.

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In the simul, teams had the option to pass up to three times in order to gain more thinking time. In such cases, the grandmaster moved on to the next board. The Deutsche Bundesbank team used this option twice in succession after 12.Rg1. In order to take the pressure out of the position, the team, after long thought, decided to sacrifice the exchange on a8. According to Anand, the game then strongly resembled an encounter he had won many years ago against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, with the same exchange sacrifice by Black on a8 - the line later turned out to be bad for Black.

At the Belgian board, Anand remembered a similar position from one of his own games against Ian Nepomniachtchi and accordingly knew how to handle the position. At several boards, the players fought on until the end and did not resign too early, which even made the former world champion smile at times.

During the three days in which the very likeable and always cheerful GM Anand was present, there were many opportunities for group photos and book signings. Accompanied by his long-time friend Hans-Walter Schmitt, Anand visibly felt at ease in Eltville am Rhein. After dinner, the prize-giving ceremony began, with trophies presented and group photos taken with the VIP guest. | Photo: Gerd Densing

Lecture by Artur Yusupov

On Sunday, after breakfast, the chess-themed side programme continued. In a lecture lasting several hours, another chess legend, GM Artur Yusupov, showed his game against Vishy from the Linares 1992 tournament, which Yusupov won. Here too, the theme of "prophylaxis" played a major role in the game. Artur captivated the audience with a fascinating lecture that offered insight into the thought processes of a master player. The chess players were visibly impressed both by Yusupov's chess understanding and by his friendly and wise character.

According to preliminary information, the next Eurochess tournament will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2027, while Italy is planned for 2028, for the first time. More precise dates are expected to be available only after the sports club presidents' meeting in Paris in September.

Huge thanks are due here to the organising team from the ECB and Bundesbank, to Rainer Friederich, managing director of the Sports and Culture Club of the Deutsche Bundesbank, to the arbiter team of Nadja Jussupow and Hans Brugger, to the entire team of the Bundesbank Conference Centre in Eltville for their support before and during the event, to grandmasters Artur Yusupov and Viswanathan Anand and, last but not least, to Hans-Walter Schmitt for providing the Chess Tigers playing equipment, for his company and for the interesting conversations on site.

Links

• Technical information at Chess-Results
• Vishy Anand remembers Robert Hübner: "He was a giant..."