Grandmaster Vladimir Fedoseev Dominates Superbet Poland Rapid & Blitz to Win First Leg of Grand Chess Tour
Grandmaster Vladimir Fedoseev Dominates Superbet Poland Rapid & Blitz to Win First Leg of Grand Chess Tour
WARSAW, POLAND (May 2, 2025) – 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.
“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,”
– 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,”
– 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,”
– 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.
