GM Vitalii Sivuk is the new chess champion of Sweden. The 31-year-old native of Ukraine turned in an excellent performance in the 2023 Swedish Championship and won his maiden title with a round to spare.

The Swedish Chess Championship 2023 took place in 2023 in Helsingborg from June30 to July 9 and was played in several different classes – from youngsters tournament to the battle for the Swedish championship gold in the Champion Class, a round-robin with classical time control, featuring local best players.

Sivuk took the lead as early as in Round 3 after defeating the defending champion GM Jonny Hector and never looked back. The new champion scored impressive 7/9 and became the only unbeaten player in the event.

A three-time national champion GM Tiger Hillarp Persson (pictured above) finished 1.5 points behind Sivuk and earned silver. IM Milton Pantzar and GM Thomas Ernst tied for third place with the former taking bronze thanks to a slightly better tiebreak.

Final standings:

Complete results in all categories

Official website: schack.se/tavlingar/schack-sm/sm-i-helsingborg-2023/

Photos: Lars OA Hedlund / Swedish Chess Association

IM Pranesh M emerged as the winner of the Rilton Cup, the first tournament of the FIDE Circuit. The 16-year-old from India, seeded 22nd, made a clean sweep of the field in Stockholm, winning eight games and finishing a full point ahead of IM Kaan Kucuksari (Sweden) and GM Nikita Meshkovs (Latvia). 

The 2022/2023 Rilton Cup, the strongest open tournament in Sweden, ran from December 27 to January 5 and brought together 136 players representing 29 national federations.

Photo: Lars OA Hedlund

The champion crossed the 2500 rating threshold and became India’s 79th Grandmaster, having completed his three norms prior to this event. 

Pranesh M is now the early leader of the FIDE Circuit with 6.8 circuit points that he gets for this victory. The one who accumulates the most points by the end of the year qualifies for the 2024 FIDE Candidates. More information is available on worldchampionshipcycle.fide.com/.

Final standings:

Photo: Lars OA Hedlund

In addition the main tournament several side events were held at the 2022-2023 Rilton Cup. Lavinia Valcu of Sweden (pictured above) won the Rilton 1800 with a perfect score 7/7, while Andre Kunz from Germany came out on top in the Rilton Elo.

Official website: rilton.se/

Photo: Lars OA Hedlund

Jonny Hector is a new Swedish champion. The 58-year-old native of Malmo claimed his second national title, twenty years after his first triumph back in 2002.

The Swedish Chess Championship 2022 took place in Uppsala from July 1-10 and was played in several different classes – from a beginner’s tournament to the battle for the Swedish Championship gold in the Swedish Champion class, a round-robin with classical time control, featuring several Sweden’s best chess players.

Hector grabbed the lead in the middle of tournament distance after stringing together three victories and was coming into the final round a full point ahead of Jung Min Seo and the defending champion Tiger Hillarp Persson with an excellent score of 6½/8.

In the final round, the leader fell to GM Jonathan Westerberg with white pieces after his opponent made a brilliant breakthrough in the center and gave one of his rivals  (they faced each other) a chance to catch up with him.

Luckily for Hector, Hillarp Person and Seo drew their game and finished a half-point behind the new champion together with Westerberg. The tiebreaks favoured Jonathan Westerberg and Tiger Hillarp Persson, who took silver and bronze, respectively. Westerberg and Seo completed the event unbeaten.

Final standings:

Check out full results in all categories

Photo: Official website

Official website: www.schack.se