Andorra Open - Norwegian Grandmaster Aryan Tari Wins the Tournament

After an exciting final day, the top seed, Norwegian Grandmaster Aryan Tari, has become the champion of the 41st edition of the Andorra International Chess Open.

At the start of the ninth round, many players still had chances to win the tournament or finish on the podium. However, just as in the eighth round, winning games on the top boards proved to be a difficult task.

Among the top six boards, where all podium contenders were playing, games were mostly ending in draws. First came the draw on board three between López and Sumets, followed shortly by the draw on board two between Shimanov and Dvirnyy. The same result occurred on boards four and five, where Kogan drew with Francisco Fiorito and Daniel Garcia drew with Joaquin Fiorito.

This left only board six, where Marta Garcia was defending a clearly worse endgame against IM Adrián Suárez, who had half a point less before the round, and board one, where Tari had an advantage against Andersen.

The Norwegian grandmaster finally managed to defeat Danish GM Mads Andersen, who had taken the lead from GM Josep Manuel López the previous day, but in this last round saw his hopes of winning vanish as he had to resign his game.

With IM Marta Garcia (ESP) also forced to concede defeat, Aryan Tari became the only player to reach 7 points, thus winning the tournament outright.

Although the strong and well-known Norwegian grandmaster did not have a perfect tournament—conceding several draws against theoretically weaker opponents—he showed great mental strength, recovering positions and winning the key game to secure the title.

Next, with 6½ points, came a large group of 15 players, something never seen before in the previous forty editions. Therefore, the tiebreak score was crucial in determining the final order and the distribution of prize money.

According to tiebreaks, the final standings were as follows:
 2nd GM Josep M. López (ESP)
 3rd GM Aleksandr Shimanov (RUS)
 4th GM Mads Andersen (DEN)
 5th IM Daniel Garcia (ESP)
 6th GM Andrey Sumets (UKR)
 7th GM Cristóbal Henriquez (CHI)
 8th GM Danyyil Dvirnyy (ITA)
 9th WGM Lan Yao (ENG)
 10th GM Arthur Kogan (ISR)
 11th IM Maciej Czopor (POL)
 12th IM Joaquin Fiorito (ARG)
 13th IM Ilya Karp (ISR)
 14th IM Francisco Fiorito (ARG)
 15th IM Adrián Suárez (ESP)

IM Norms and Young Talents

In the sporting section, it is worth mentioning that English players WGM Lan Yao and U16 FM Sohum Lohia achieved International Master norms.

Also noteworthy were the young players of the large Indian delegation, who won numerous prizes in age categories and rating sections, proving that their rating is far below their actual playing strength.

Best Andorran Players

With 6 points, the best Andorran player was CM Josep M. Ribera, who finished 54th.

With the same score, FM Daniel Gómez placed 56th, and U16 Andria Ercoli, who had a very good tournament, finished 64th.

Rating Prizes

As in the previous edition, this year’s section prizes included both cash and vouchers for the Chessable platform. The winners were:

2150–2299: 1st IM Fabian Fiorito (ARG), 2nd Sebastián Suárez (USA)

2000–2149: 1st WCM G Mallar Arya (IND), 2nd CM Jonas Rempe (GER)

1850–1999: 1st Mishra Jagreet (IND), 2nd Krithik Muthukumar (IND)

0–1849: 1st Ghosh Drishtee (IND), 2nd Adrián Andrés (ESP)

Female and Veteran Prizes

Female: 1st WGM Lan Yao (ENG), 2nd WFM Antonia Christodoulaki (GRE), 3rd IM Marta García (ESP)

Veteran (>65): 1st FM Raül Garcia (AND), 2nd Dr. Gernot Klein (GER), 3rd Jesús M. Tanco (ESP)

Age Prizes

Best U10: Krithik Muthukumar (IND)

Best U12: Noam Sason (ISR)

Best U14: Mishra Jagreet (IND)

Best U18 Girl: Shome Aditri (IND)

Best U18 Boy: FM Kobe Smeets (NED)

Closing Ceremony

The prize-giving ceremony was attended by Ms. Helena Mas (Minister of Health), Ms. Rosa Gili (Mayor of Escaldes-Engordany), Ms. Laura López (Sports Councillor), Mr. Xavier Miquel (Director of Hotel Panorama), and Mr. Francesc Rechi (President of the Andorra Chess Federation).

We also thank all participants and accompanying guests for their presence and hope to see you all in 2026, from July 18 to 26!