The European Championship 2025 starts on Saturday

by André Schulz
3/12/2025 – The 2025 European Championship kicks off on Saturday in Eforie-Nord, Romania. As well as a €100,000 prize fund, the players will have the chance to qualify for the World Cup - with the top 20 players qualifying for the World Cup.

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Next Friday, the 2025 European Championship will officially begin with the Opening Ceremony in the evening. The event is hosted by the Romanian Chess Federation and will take place in the seaside resort of Eforie-Nord on Romania's Black Sea coast, connected to Eforie-South by a land bridge that separates Lake Techirghiol from the Black Sea. The tournament will be held at the Ana Hotel Europa, the official tournament hotel, where the players will be accommodated.

The first round will be played on Saturday, March 15. It is an 11-round Swiss tournament that ends on Wednesday, March 26. Friday, March 21, is a rest day, all rounds start at 3 p.m. CET, though the last round starts at 2 p.m.

The organisers are offering a total prize pool of €100,000, with €20,000 going to the tournament winner.

Perhaps even more important for the top players is the chance to qualify for the next FIDE World Cup. The top 20 players get a ticket for the FIDE knockout tournament, in which three players can win a ticket for the Candidates Tournament. 

A total of 385 players have registered. The host country provides the largest contingent with 80 players, followed by Turkey (33), Israel (32), Poland and Ukraine (both 29).

The top European players with ratings above 2700 are missing from this tournament, which is why Romanian number one Bogdan-Daniel Deac tops the seeding list. He is followed by some familiar names, including younger players like Daniel Dardha and experienced players like Pawel Eljanov.

The field of participants is predominantly male, but a few women have also registered, including around 25 titleholders. The best women player is Nurgyul Salimova in 170th place.

List of players

1
GM Deac, Bogdan-Daniel 1226380 ROU 2692
2
GM Sarana, Alexey 24133795 SRB 2689
3
GM Van Foreest, Jorden 1039784 NED 2676
4
GM Eljanov, Pavel 14102951 UKR 2666
5
GM Sargsyan, Shant 13306766 ARM 2666
6
GM Dardha, Daniel 240990 BEL 2665
7
GM Anton Guijarro, David 2285525 ESP 2663
8
GM Navara, David 309095 CZE 2663
9
GM Wojtaszek, Radoslaw 1118358 POL 2659
10
GM Gledura, Benjamin 712779 HUN 2658
11
GM Svane, Frederik 12923044 GER 2654
12
GM Yuffa, Daniil 24131423 ESP 2654
13
GM Martirosyan, Haik M. 13306553 ARM 2652
14
GM Saric, Ivan 14508150 CRO 2652
15
GM Kollars, Dmitrij 12909572 GER 2649
16
GM Cheparinov, Ivan 2905540 BUL 2646
17
GM Grandelius, Nils 1710400 SWE 2644
18
GM Bluebaum, Matthias 24651516 GER 2643
19
GM Predke, Alexandr 24107581 SRB 2640
20
GM Bjerre, Jonas Buhl 1444948 DEN 2637
21
GM Hakobyan, Aram 13306677 ARM 2635
22
GM Suleymanli, Aydin 13413937 AZE 2633
23
GM Hovhannisyan, Robert 13302507 ARM 2630
24
GM Chigaev, Maksim 4108116 ESP 2629
25
GM Ponomariov, Ruslan 14103320 UKR 2628
26
GM Sargissian, Gabriel 13300881 ARM 2628
27
GM Volokitin, Andrei 14107090 UKR 2628
28
GM Donchenko, Alexander 24603295 GER 2627
29
GM Santos Latasa, Jaime 2293307 ESP 2627
30
GM Svane, Rasmus 4657101 GER 2627

385 players...

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Topics: European Championship 2025
André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.
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