Christopher Yoo outright winner in Sardinia

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
5/3/2025 – Christopher Yoo, aged 18, obtained outright victory at the 2025 Sardinia World Chess Festival with a final score of 7½ out of 9. He remained unbeaten, finishing ahead of Ukrainian GM Ihor Samunenkov and Italian GM Lorenzo Lodici, who shared second place on 7 points. Yoo's recent career has drawn attention for an incident at the 2024 US Championship, where he was suspended for a year by the US Chess Federation following misconduct. | Photo: Niklesh Jain / ChessBase India

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Samunenkov and Lodici score in the final round to reach the podium

The Sardinia World Chess Festival 2025, which took place from 27 April to 3 May, came to a close with US grandmaster Christopher Yoo emerging as the overall winner.

At 18 years of age, Yoo topped the standings with an impressive score of 7½ out of 9. Over the course of the nine-round tournament, he registered six wins and three draws. His campaign began in dominant fashion, with five consecutive victories setting the tone early on. After drawing in the sixth round, he faced Italian GM Francesco Sonis in round seven and secured a vital win. Two draws in the final rounds were sufficient to maintain his lead and secure first place outright.

Finishing just half a point behind Yoo were Ukrainian prodigy Ihor Samunenkov and local grandmaster Lorenzo Lodici, who both ended the tournament on 7 points. In the final round, 15-year-old Samunenkov defeated Dutch IM Miguoel Admiraal to move up the leaderboard. Lodici, aged 25 and representing Italy, also scored in the final round, he defeated French IM Loic Travadon. Both had entered the last day of play a full point behind the leader, but capitalised on their opportunities to reach the podium.

Yoo's triumph in Sardinia is particularly significant given the context of his recent career. In October 2024, during the US Championship held at the Saint Louis Chess Club, he was involved in a controversial incident. After a loss to Fabiano Caruana in the fifth round, Yoo left the playing hall in frustration and, in doing so, struck a female videographer from behind. The incident led to his immediate disqualification from the tournament and a subsequent charge of fourth-degree assault. The United States Chess Federation (USCF) issued a one-year suspension, effectively halting his competitive activities on the domestic scene.

Following the incident, Yoo issued a public apology, acknowledging that he had lost control of his emotions. He also took steps to address his conduct by engaging the services of mental coach Ebru Ceylan.

Video produced by ChessBase India

Yoo 1-0 Sonis

Analysis by Johannes Fischer

Final standings

Rk. Name Pts. TB1
1 Yoo, Christopher Woojin 7,5 9
2 Samunenkov, Ihor 7 9
3 Lodici, Lorenzo 7 9
4 Dardha, Daniel 6,5 9
5 Travadon, Loic 6,5 9
6 Amar, Elham 6,5 9
7 Narayanan S, L 6,5 9
8 Sokolovsky, Yahli 6,5 9
9 Fromm, Marius 6,5 9
10 Yaniv, Yuval 6,5 9
11 Mendonca, Leon Luke 6 9
12 Bettalli, Francesco 6 9
13 Admiraal, Miguoel 6 9
14 Moroni, Luca Jr 6 9
15 Ibrayev, Nurlan 6 9
16 Lumachi, Gabriele 6 9
17 Sonis, Francesco 5,5 9
18 Raja, Harshit 5,5 9
19 Perossa, Nicolas 5,5 9
20 Martinovici, Ilia 5,5 9

...106 players

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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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