{"id":43986,"date":"2026-03-02T07:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T07:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/?p=43986"},"modified":"2026-03-02T07:48:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T07:48:58","slug":"monaco-championship-2026-levacic-and-dornbusch-claim-titles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/monaco-championship-2026-levacic-and-dornbusch-claim-titles\/","title":{"rendered":"Monaco Championship 2026: Levacic and Dornbusch claim titles"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"43986\" class=\"elementor elementor-43986\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-eb720e5 e-flex e-con-boxed wpr-particle-no wpr-jarallax-no wpr-parallax-no wpr-sticky-section-no e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"eb720e5\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d2f5238 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"d2f5238\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"742\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-Winners-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-43989\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-Winners-1.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-Winners-1-300x223.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-Winners-1-768x570.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8bcd5b5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"8bcd5b5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>IM <strong>Damir Levacic<\/strong>\u00a0and WGM\u00a0<strong>Tatiana Dornbusch<\/strong> are newly crowned chess champions of \u0435\u0440\u0443 Principality. The Monaco Chess Championship 2026, a 7-round Swiss tournament held from February 23 to March 1, brought together the country\u2019s leading players with man and women competing in the same pool. The event not only determined the national titleholders but also finalized the selection of the teams representing Monaco at the upcoming Chess Olympiad.<\/p><p><strong>Open and women\u2019s titles<\/strong><\/p><p>IM\u00a0Damir Levacic\u00a0emerged as the clear winner of the tournament, scoring 5.5\/7 to secure the title of\u00a0Monaco Champion 2026. Despite suffering a third-round defeat at the hands of top seed GM Amir Bagheri, Levacic finished strongly with three straight victories to clinch the title.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a2b96be elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"a2b96be\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"667\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-Open.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-43988\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-Open.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-Open-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-Open-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3ee3fbc elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3ee3fbc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Five players shared second place on 5 points, reflecting the highly competitive nature of the championship:\u00a0<\/p><ul><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">GM\u00a0Amir Bagheri<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Riccardo Costalonga<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">GM\u00a0Igor Efimov<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">FM Alexis Cahen<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">FM Patrice Verdier<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p>Tie-break criteria determined the final ranking among the players on equal points.<\/p><p>WGM\u00a0Tatiana Dornbusch\u00a0secured the title of\u00a0Women\u2019s Champion of Monaco 2026, finishing as the highest-ranked female player with a score of 4.5\/7. She edged out WIM <strong>Marija Zvereva<\/strong> who achieved the same score but had an inferior Buchholz-tiebreak.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b43f1bc elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"b43f1bc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"710\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-Women.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-43990\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-Women.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-Women-300x213.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-Women-768x545.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-21eecc5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"21eecc5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>WCM <strong>Svetlana Berezovska<\/strong> and WCM <strong>Fiorina Berezovsky<\/strong> also completed solid tournaments.<\/p><p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/s2.chess-results.com\/tnr1360531.aspx?lan=1&amp;art=1&amp;turdet=YES&amp;SNode=S0\">Complete final standings<\/a><\/strong><\/p><p><strong>Monaco teams for the Chess Olympiad<\/strong><\/p><p>Based on the results of the national championship and selection criteria, the Monaco Chess Federation confirmed the following line-ups for the forthcoming Chess Olympiad:<\/p><p><strong>Open <\/strong><strong>t<\/strong><strong>eam<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p><ul><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">IM Damir Levacic<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">GM Amir Bagheri<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Riccardo Costalonga<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">GM Igor Efimov<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">FM Alexis Cahen<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p><strong>Women\u2019s <\/strong><strong>t<\/strong><strong>eam<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p><ul><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">WGM Tatiana Dornbusch<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">WIM Marija Zvereva<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">WCM Svetlana Berezovska<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">WCM Fiorina Berezovsky<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">WIM Julia Lebel (82)<\/span><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4a6e06b elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"4a6e06b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"725\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-2026-All.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-43992\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-2026-All.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-2026-All-300x218.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Monaco-2026-All-768x557.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ee21858 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"ee21858\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The composition of both teams combines experienced titled players with motivated competitors, aiming to represent Monaco with strength and stability on the international stage.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IM Damir Levacic\u00a0and WGM\u00a0Tatiana Dornbusch are newly crowned chess champions of \u0435\u0440\u0443 Principality. The Monaco Chess Championship 2026, a 7-round Swiss tournament held from February 23 to March 1, brought together the country\u2019s leading players with man and women competing in the same pool. The event not only determined the national titleholders but also finalized the selection of the teams representing Monaco at the upcoming Chess Olympiad. Open and women\u2019s titles IM\u00a0Damir Levacic\u00a0emerged as the clear winner of the tournament, scoring 5.5\/7 to secure the title of\u00a0Monaco Champion 2026. Despite suffering a third-round defeat at the hands of top seed GM Amir Bagheri, Levacic finished strongly with three straight victories to clinch the title. Five players shared second place on 5 points, reflecting the highly competitive nature of the championship:\u00a0 GM\u00a0Amir Bagheri Riccardo Costalonga GM\u00a0Igor Efimov FM Alexis Cahen FM Patrice Verdier Tie-break criteria determined the final ranking among the players on equal points. WGM\u00a0Tatiana Dornbusch\u00a0secured the title of\u00a0Women\u2019s Champion of Monaco 2026, finishing as the highest-ranked female player with a score of 4.5\/7. She edged out WIM Marija Zvereva who achieved the same score but had an inferior Buchholz-tiebreak. WCM Svetlana Berezovska and WCM Fiorina Berezovsky also completed solid tournaments. Complete final standings Monaco teams for the Chess Olympiad Based on the results of the national championship and selection criteria, the Monaco Chess Federation confirmed the following line-ups for the forthcoming Chess Olympiad: Open team\u00a0 IM Damir Levacic GM Amir Bagheri Riccardo Costalonga GM Igor Efimov FM Alexis Cahen Women\u2019s team\u00a0 WGM Tatiana Dornbusch WIM Marija Zvereva WCM Svetlana Berezovska WCM Fiorina Berezovsky WIM Julia Lebel (82) The composition of both teams combines experienced titled players with motivated competitors, aiming to represent Monaco with strength and stability on the international stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[53,297],"regular":[],"sticky-post":[],"class_list":["post-43986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chess-news","tag-monaco","tag-national-championship"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43986"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43998,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43986\/revisions\/43998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43986"},{"taxonomy":"regular","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regular?post=43986"},{"taxonomy":"sticky-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sticky-post?post=43986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}