Grandmaster Vladimir Fedoseev Dominates Superbet Poland Rapid & Blitz to Win First Leg of Grand Chess Tour

The first leg of the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) came to a thrilling conclusion as wildcard Grandmaster (GM) Vladimir Fedoseev from Slovenia delivered a strong performance to win Superbet Poland Rapid & Blitz with three rounds to spare, finishing five points ahead of the field and taking home the top prize of $40,000.

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“Congratulations to GM Vladimir Fedoseev for his win at Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland! And well done to all the players for delivering such exciting games. Events like the GCT inspire individuals from all walks of life to take up chess, and that’s truly remarkable,” said Augusta Dragic, President of the Superbet Foundation.

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finished in second place, taking home a prize of $30,000, followed by GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu who took third place and $25,000.

“It’s an incredibly satisfying feeling—though at times, it’s hard to believe it’s really happening to me. Everything seemed to flow naturally, and I believe luck played a big role in my success. Huge congratulations to the organizers and the sponsors—this was the best tournament I’ve played in so far,” said Fedoseev.

POSITION	PLAYER	COUNTRY	PRIZE MONEY
1	GM Vladimir Fedoseev	SLO	$40,000
2	GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	FRA	$30,000
3	GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu	IND	$25,000
4	GM Levon Aronian	USA	$20,000
5	GM Alireza Firouzja	FRA	$15,000
6	GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac	ROU	$11,000
7	GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda	POL	$9,500
7	GM Aravindh Chithambaram	IND	$9,500
9	GM David Gavrilescu	ROU	$8,000
10	GM Veselin Topalov	BUL	$7,000

“It was a pleasure to congratulate Vladimir on his commanding performance and well-deserved victory at the Superbet Poland Rapid & Blitz. His win made for a thrilling start to our 10th anniversary season on this year’s Grand Chess Tour,” said Michael Khodarkovsky, GCT Executive Director.

The second GCT leg, Superbet Chess Classic Romania sponsored by the Superbet Foundation, begins on Wednesday, May 7 with live commentary from GMs Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila and Peter Svidler, International Master Nazi Paikidze and Women Grandmaster (WGM) Anastasia Karlovich starting at 7:00 a.m. CDT. Tune in to the Saint Louis Chess Club's Twitch & YouTube channels.

The remaining 2025 tour schedule will feature:

• Superbet Chess Classic Romania: May 7-16, 2025 in Bucharest, Romania
• SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia: July 1-6, 2025 in Zagreb, Croatia
• Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz: August 9-14 in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
• Sinquefield Cup: August 16-26, 2025 in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
• GCT Finals: September 26-October 4, 2025 in São Paulo, Brazil

GCT participants are currently competing for a recently increased prize purse of $1.6 million over the course of the 2025 season. The prize fund for each of the two classical tournaments will be $350,000 and $175,000 per event for rapid and blitz. Top four finishers of the regular season of five tournaments will compete for the purse of additional $350,000 in the knockout matches at the GCT finals.

For more information, visit grandchesstour.org.

Grand Chess Tour

Grand Chess Tour is a circuit of international events, each demonstrating the highest level of organization for the world's best players. The legendary Garry Kasparov, one of the world's greatest ambassadors for chess, inspired the Grand Chess Tour and helped solidify the partnership between the organizers. All Grand Chess Tour 2024 events will comply with local and regional COVID-19 restrictions. For more information about the tour, please visit grandchesstour.org.

Superbet Foundation

The Superbet Foundation, a non-profit organization, is responsible for coordinating the Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives of the Superbet Group. Our goal is to support the advancement of health, education, and sports initiatives, with a special emphasis on promoting the game of chess and its myriad benefits within all the communities we serve.

Saint Louis Chess Club

The Saint Louis Chess Club is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that is committed to making chess an important part of our community. In addition to providing a forum for the community to play tournaments and casual games, the club also offers chess improvement classes, beginner lessons and special lectures. Recognizing the cognitive and behavioral benefits of chess, the Saint Louis Chess Club is committed to supporting those chess programs that already exist in area schools while encouraging the development of new in-school and after-school programs. For more information, visit saintlouischessclub.org.

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