Belgian Championship Blitz 2025 at Deinze

Report by Olivier Beirnaert

On Saturday, June 7, 2025, 112 chess players from all over the country gathered at the Brielpoort in Deinze to compete in the Belgian Blitz Championship.

15 rounds with the 3’+2″-increment pace were available to the participants to fight out among themselves who could crown themselves Belgian champion(s).

After four rounds it was only IM Aleksander Alienkin, FM Gorik Cools, Kobe Vandenhole and Hillel Toledo, who were at the very top of the standings with 4 wins. Kobe Vandenhole, after wins against FM Gorik Cools and IM Aleksander Alienkin even continued this perfect score until round 6. It was clear that this young top talent (year of birth 2009!) of KSK Pion Aalst, who was also eleventh at last year’s Belgian Blitz Championship in Dworp, had to be taken into account today.

In round 7, Kobe had to bow his head for once. The opposition was not negligible. IM Stephane Hautot, with white, proved too strong and took the lead. We suddenly had 6 leaders. Meanwhile IM Aleksander Alienkin, FM Adrian Roos, WIM Annmarie Muetsch and Diana Musabayeva had also gathered a good 6/7.

Annmarie & Diana already had a nice advantage over the next ladies, so halfway through the tournament it was clear that one of these two women would crown herself Belgian champion 2025. The duel between defending champion Annmarie Muetsch (De Pluspion Wachtebeke) & challenger Diana Musabayeva (LSV-Chesspirant) remained exciting until the very last round. Annmarie eventually stayed half a point ahead of Diana and crowned herself Belgian champion again with 9.5/15. Emma Daels (Pionniers Tielt) took home the bronze medal with 7/15. Young lady Diana Musabayeva, with 9/15, thus crowned herself Belgian champion -20 & once again confirmed her status as emerging top talent in (women’s) chess.

Among the men, meanwhile, IM Aleksander Alienkin set a solid series. He dived into the second break with an impressive 9/10. Arman Sarkisian, Kobe Vandenhole and Nimrod Faybish followed with 8/10. During the breaks, by the way, the participants could enjoy a true chess art exhibition. Indeed, the organizing club SK Karpov Deinze had approached more than 150 artists (painters, sculptors, photographers,…) to create a work of art with a connection to chess. So this year’s Belgian championship took place in a unique setting with a playing room decorated with beautiful chess art.

Back to the tournament itself, where, after break 2, Kobe Vandenhole once again unleashed his devils. With impressive wins against Nimrod Faybish in round 11 & grandmaster Alexandre Dgebuadze in round 12, he came back to the top of the leaderboard with 10/12. With 3 rounds to go, the question was whether this young man could keep the nerves under control, as international masters Aleksander Alienkin & Stephane Hautot followed at only half a point. But Kobe kept his cool, continued to impress and finished the tournament with 2 wins and 1 draw. Kobe Vandehole (KSK Pion Aalst) thus crowned himself Belgian champion with 12.5/15! IM Stephane Hautot (La tour d’Ans-Loncin) took silver with 11.5/15. Arman Sarkisian (CREB Bruxelles) completed the podium with 11/15.

In the side rankings, FM Johan Goormachtigh (KGSRL Gent) won with 9.5/15 in the 65+ category. In the -2200 elo category, Jimmy Lafosse (CRELEL Liège) was the best with 10.5/15. Also winning were Nathan Henderyckx (SV Landen) with 9.5/15 in the -2000 elo and Anton Slodicka (Oudenaarde) with 8.5/15 in the -1800 elo . Finally, Korneel Priem (SK Karpov Deinze) was the strongest with 6.5/15 at the -1600 elo .

So it became a special edition of the Belgian blitz championship with a top young chess player who outsmarted everything & everyone and won the tournament with a convincing 12.5/15. Kobe Vandenhole, a name to remember! Special thanks also to referees Geert Bailleul, Tom Piceu & Timothé Scaillet, as well as the many volunteers, for keeping everything on track.