Matthias Bluebaum wins European Championship for a second time

by Johannes Fischer
3/27/2025 – Matthias Bluebaum became European Champion for the first time in 2022 and has now won the title for the second time - no other player has ever achieved this feat. Frederik Svane ensured a German double triumph: in the last round, he bravely took risks against Daniil Yuffa and secured second place. Like Bluebaum, he finished with 8½/11 points, but Bluebaum had a better Buchholz score. Israeli GM Maxim Rodshtein, who also scored 8½ points, finished in third place. | Photo: David Llada

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The first two-time European champion

The eleventh and final round of the European Championship was exciting and dramatic. After 10 rounds, Bluebaum and Yuffa were joint leaders with 8 points each, ahead of seven players with 7½ points each. In the last round, Bluebaum played with white against Azerbaijani grandmaster Nijat Abasov, who had made it into the 2024 Candidates Tournament in Toronto. Yuffa had black against Frederik Svane.

In the event of a tie for first place at the end of the tournament, the direct encounter was the deciding tiebreaker criterion. But only if two players were tied on points. If three or more players were tied on points, the Buchholz score would decide the champion.

With a win against Abasov, Bluebaum could have become European Champion outirght, as he had won the direct encounter against Yuffa, but he decided not to force his luck and offered Abasov a draw after only 5 moves. Abasov agreed, and Bluebaum had to hope that Yuffa would not manage to win with black against Frederik Svane.

But Frederik Svane made it exciting. He already had the draw in hand when he decided to play for a win with a bold pawn sacrifice. The engines were not enthusiastic about the pawn sacrifice, but at the board Yuffa did not find the right defence and Svane's courage to take risks was rewarded.

Svane, Frederik26541–0Yuffa, Daniil2654
EICC 2025
Eforie-Nord26.03.2025[Johannes Fischer]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.h4 Nbc6 8.Rh3 Qa5 9.Bd2 Qa4 10.Rb1 c4 Black locks down the queenside, and in the further course of the game, the closed position leads to long and tough manoeuvring. 11.h5 h6 12.Qc1 b6 13.Rf3 Bd7 14.g3 Rf8 15.Bh3 0-0-0 16.Ne2 Nf5 17.Kf1 Nce7 18.Qb2 Nc6 19.Nf4 Nfe7 20.Re1 Rh8 21.Ng2 Rdf8 22.Nh4 Qa5 23.Qc1 Kb8 24.Kg2 Qa6 25.Qb2 Qa4 26.Qc1 Qa6
27.a4!? White could not find a way to break through on the kingside and could have claimed a draw by repetition with 27.Qb2. However, Frederik Svane did not want a draw and plays for a win with a double-edged pawn sacrifice. Qxa4 28.Qb2 Qa6 29.Ra1 Qc8 30.Qa3
30...Nf5? For the pawn, White has obtained open lines on the queenside. Additionally, he can bring his bishop via c1 to d6, emphasising Black's weaknesses on the dark squares. However, the engines are not impressed with White's concept and see Black as clearly better after moves like 30...Qe8 or 30...a5. But Yuffa wants to shake off White's pressure and returns the extra pawn. However, he ends up worse. 31.Bxf5 exf5 32.Qd6+ Kb7 33.Qxd5 Be6 34.Qb5 Rd8?! Now White can exchange queens to his advantage. Better was 34...Qd7 leading to a complex position with chances for both sides. 35.Qa6+ Kb8 36.Qxc8+ Kxc8
37.Rxf5!? Even stronger was 37.Nxf5! Bd5 Also after 37...Nxe5 38.dxe5 Rxd2 39.Rxa7 Kb8 40.Re7 Bd5 41.Nd4 White secures compensation and an advantage for the sacrificed exchange. 38.g4 with an advantage for White. If Black captures the exchange, he lands in trouble, e.g. Bxf3+ 39.Kxf3 Nxe5+ 40.dxe5 Rxd2 41.Rxa7 and White is winning. 37...Kb7 38.Be1 Ne7! Black declines the exchange and instead sets up a blockade on the light squares. However, White still has an extra pawn. 39.Rf4 Rhe8 40.f3
40...f5? In the final move before the time control, Black makes a mistake that further weakens his position. After the waiting move 40...Rd5 White would struggle to make his extra pawn count. 41.exf6 Nd5 42.Re4 Nxf6 43.Re5 Nd7 44.Re2 Nf6 45.g4 a5 46.Kf2 Bg8 47.Rxe8 Nxe8 48.Ke3 Bh7 49.Kd2 Nf6 50.Bg3 Rd7 51.Be5
White has succeeded in activating his long-passive dark-squared bishop and now has a winning position. 51...Nd5 52.Ra4 Kc8 53.Rxc4+ Kd8 54.Ra4 Ke8 55.Ra1 Ra7 56.Rb1 Kf7 57.f4 b5 58.g5 hxg5 59.fxg5 Ke6 60.g6 Bg8 61.Rxb5 Here, Black could have resigned with a clear conscience, but Yuffa played a few more moves before finally accepting his bitter defeat. a4 62.c4 Ne7 63.Bxg7 a3 64.d5+ Kd7 65.h6 A crucial game in the tournament, played bravely and strongly by Svane.
1–0

Svane was not the only player from the chasing pack with 7½ out of 10 to win in the final round. Maxim Rodshtein also managed this feat, winning against Armenian GM Shant Sargissian. This meant that Bluebaum, Svane and Rodshtein finished tied for first place with 8½ points each - i.e. the Buchholz score would decide the outcome.

Bluebaum was narrowly ahead here. He had 1 Buchholz point more than Svane and thus became European Champion 2025 and won took home €20,000 in prize money. Svane received €15,000 for second place, while Rodshtein got €10,000 for his third place.

Remarkably, Bluebaum is the first player in the 25 years of European Championship history to win the title twice. He had also won the 2022 edition in Brežice, Slovenia.

European Chess Championship 2025

The podium

Final standings

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Bluebaum, Matthias 8,5 0
2 Svane, Frederik 8,5 0
3 Rodshtein, Maxim 8,5 0
4 Yuffa, Daniil 8 0
5 Gledura, Benjamin 8 0
6 Tari, Aryan 8 0
7 Sargissian, Gabriel 8 0
8 Abasov, Nijat 8 0
9 Erdogmus, Yagiz Kaan 8 0
10 Gurel, Ediz 8 0
11 Kantor, Gergely 8 0
12 Samadov, Read 8 0
13 Jobava, Baadur 7,5 0
14 Van Foreest, Jorden 7,5 0
15 Kourkoulos-Arditis, Stamatis 7,5 0
16 Navara, David 7,5 0
17 Hovhannisyan, Robert 7,5 0
18 Sargsyan, Shant 7,5 0
19 Lagarde, Maxime 7,5 0
20 Velten, Paul 7,5 0
21 Martirosyan, Haik M. 7,5 0
22 Saric, Ivan 7,5 0
23 Ahmadzada, Ahmad 7,5 0
24 Huschenbeth, Niclas 7,5 0
25 Dardha, Daniel 7,5 0
26 Gumularz, Szymon 7,5 0
27 Suleymanli, Aydin 7,5 0
28 Wojtaszek, Radoslaw 7,5 0
29 Can, Emre 7,5 0
30 Kuzubov, Yuriy 7,5 0

...375 players

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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".
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