Tepe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament

We would like to thank the players, the sponsors, all that helped, and finally, all chess fans, for making the 2025 Tepe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament a great success!

We will get back to you later on with some news on the 2026 tournament.

Ivanchuk-Sindarov

In his game against Sindarov, Ivanchuk played the Catalan Opening. The game was long balanced, but after move 40, Sindarov was slightly better. However, he just needed half a point to win the tournament, so he accepted Ivanchuk’s draw offer.

Robson-Rapport

After a long opening theory sequence in the King’s Indian, Robson was a pawn up, but Rapport had good compensation for the pawn. In a balanced position right before move 40, the game ended in a draw by repetition.

l’Ami-Erdogmus

In his game against l’Ami, Erdogmus chose the Queen’s Gambit Accepted. For quite a while, they followed a game Nakamura – Dominguez, where white ended up winning a pawn, but still had problems winning the game. L’Ami tried to improve on white’s game by playing 23.Ndc4 instead of 23.Nb3, but white still did not have much of an advantage. Erdogmus defended well and the game ended in a draw.

Grandelius-Tan

As white against Tan, Grandelius played his patented 5.d3 in the Ruy Lopez. The game went back and forth, but when Grandelius got his pawns going with 38.e5, black’s position collapsed and after 57 moves, Tan had to resign.

Photo by Mikael Svensson

Javokhir Sindarov is the winner!

Here is the final result:
1. Sindarov 4½
2-3. Erdogmus and Grandelius 4
4-5. Rapport and Robson 3½
6-7. l’Ami and Tan 3
8. Ivanchuk 2½

Sindarov-Grandelius

As black in the Italian Defense, Grandelius sacrificed a pawn for activity. At move 17, when he was going to take it back, he probably did it the wrong way. It would have been better to take the d3 pawn with the queen, instead of with the bishop. Grandelius’ position became critical when he played the passive 23….Bh7, but Sindarov did not manage to find the right moves. He should at least been able to win the b-pawn, e.g. by 26.Nc8. Instead, the position was simplified and at move 41, a draw was agreed upon.

Tan-l’Ami

Tan opted for 6.a3 in the Najdorf Sicilian, and l’Ami chose one of the most critical variations, with 6….e5, followed by 7….d5. The position became very complicated, and when the white king ended up on f1, it looked like it was in danger. L’Ami should probably should have avoided the exchanges that followed upon 26….Ne3+, since this lead to a double rook ending where Tan could secure a draw through active play.

Erdogmus-Robson

Once again, Erdogmus chose 3.Bb5 against the Sicilian Defense. Robson seemed to be prepared for that, and equalized without problems. Later on, Robson won a pawn, but considering that all pawns were on the same side of the board, and the bishops were of opposite colors, the winning changes were small. Robson kept playing, but Erdogmus defended well, and after 109 moves, the draw was a fact.

Rapport-Ivanchuk

Already after three moves, Rapport an Ivanchuk had managed to create a position that was not known from any previous games. The character of the position resembled the Philidor Defense. Ivanchuk forced things early on, by taking on d4. Perhaps, it might have been wise to castle before that, and then play e.g. Re8. With 18…g5, Ivanchuk allowed the strong 19.Nc5, which should have been a winning move, but Rapport did not find the most exact continuation (20.Nxc6 bxc6 21.Da7 would have won directly). White also had promising play after 22.Qa8+. After Rapport missed the winning move, most of his advantage was gone, but sadly enough, Ivanchuk ran out of time when he was about to carry out 25….Ke6.