Belgians in foreign tournaments: Teplice June 13-21, 2026

In more than 30 years of competitive chess, this is the first time I have played in a chess tournament in June. Because there is very little choice of multi-day tournaments in June, it was once again the Czech Republic (see my previous review of Marienbad). To my knowledge, it is the only country where you can play a large open tournament every month on a limited budget and where the location is relatively easy to reach by car from Belgium. That is also why I declared the Czech Republic a chess republic on my blog a few years ago.

Teplice is a city in the North of the Czech Republic with approximately 50,000 inhabitants, at a distance of over 800 kilometers from Belgium. You can cover that distance in one go by car, but on the way there I stayed overnight in Dresden and on the way back I stayed in Leipzig. Both Dresden and Leipzig are very much worth visiting. Furthermore, it strikes me that 37 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, there are still major differences between the former East and West Germany. In any case, I found it a lot more pleasant there than, for example, Dortmund a few years earlier.

During this tournament, I was also accompanied solely by my wife for the first time. Our children are 17-18 years old, so they were perfectly fine with us being away from home for 11 days. I was able to convince my wife to travel along because Teplice has numerous tourist attractions. It is famous for its spa. In addition to a picturesque center, it also contains numerous modern shopping centers. Moreover, Prague is only 50 km away and there is an excellent bus and train connection. Every day there was only one game starting at 3:00 PM, which meant we still had time every evening to dine and walk. Thus, we discovered that Teplice has several excellent dining establishments (Restaurant Beethoven, Brewery-restaurant Monopol, Penzion U Kozicky) and some beautiful parks.

After Marienbad, my intention this time was to play in the main group, but that was without counting on 45 entries from Indians. With my rating, in a doom scenario, I would have to play almost every game against an Indian. I have absolutely nothing against Indians, but I have no desire to serve as an Elo supplier for them (for free). So I switched to the +50 category, in which 1 GM and 3 IMs also participated. Apparently, many others felt the same way about the Indians as I did, because almost half of the participants withdrew from the main group before the tournament had even begun. The organization had to observe with regret that the playing hall was not even half full.

The boards were therefore widely spaced in the playing hall. Each player received a small souvenir and a ballpoint pen from the tournament organization beforehand. Free water was available (no luxury, as it became +30 degrees in the hall during the last round due to a lack of air conditioning), but that was it. You should not play in Eastern European tournaments for the conviviality. A bar, analysis room, or closing reception were also missing here. Except for the first round, the pairings were neatly on time, so I was able to prepare well each time. The prize ceremony, on the other hand, was chaotic. There was no clear start time, so many people hung around the last boards aimlessly. Everyone who had won a sum of money had to queue in a long line for more than an hour afterwards, only to find that prize money is only paid out in cash in the local currency.

When you play abroad, you know you have to adapt to local customs, but I still raised my eyebrows several times. Some local players thought it was normal to claim a fixed board number for themselves. I understand this if you have a disability or if you are a YouTube streamer, but not, for example, to avoid having to play on the live boards. I also saw a local player vaping several times during the tournament, and nothing was said about it. I have already published an article on my blog about playing with non-standard pieces: Česká Klubovka IV. By the way, I took the photos for that article with my mobile phone after I had finished my last game while other games were still in progress. I saw many players with their mobile phones in hand in the tournament hall. I heard several players complaining about potential cheating.

During the tournament, I left my mobile phone in the car. This was also an important reason why I came by car, even though the distance between the tournament hall and our accommodation was only 1 km. I like to have my mobile phone with me immediately after the game to see if my wife has already returned from her activities or if I can chat for a bit. By the way, there was a spacious free parking lot in front of the sports hall. For accommodation, we had rented a very comfortable apartment with air conditioning in the middle of the center of Teplice, Rezidence Fontana.

I played a fairly good tournament, by which I mean without major blunders. It helped, of course, that in the +50 category, no one is underrated. The energy level of my opponents is a lot lower than with youth players. My win from the 2nd round was certainly not flawless, but I personally find it the most interesting.

In the final round, I agreed to the draw proposal from the British Grandmaster Keith Arkell in a winning position, see Lichess study. That stung afterwards, although I also realize that the win is far beyond my chess capabilities. With a gain of 14 Elo points and a 2nd place prize of 8,000 koruna, I was more than satisfied.

I have seen certain (foreign) players participating in Teplice for many years. The tournament has its peculiarities but certainly also its charms. The future will tell whether this was a one-time visit or will be repeated again.

Helmut Froeyman