Loek Van Wely prevails in Echternach

GM Loek van Wely convincingly wins the 2026 Echternach Open

It is a familiar sight on the Sauer, and one that was again on display over the weekend of 20 and 21 June: when the local club De Sprénger Echternach invites players to its traditional open, Luxembourg’s oldest city turns into a chess stronghold.

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The historic abbey, with its magnificent setting and historic Hall of Mirrors, once again provided a worthy venue for this year’s 30^th anniversary edition of the popular rapid chess tournament.

In the end, a familiar face on the European chess scene prevailed. Dutch grandmaster Loek van Wely secured tournament victory. Starting as the second seed behind grandmaster Georg Meier, who represents Uruguay and lives near Frankfurt, “King Loek” once again demonstrated his class and experience in this tournament format.

The sporting showdown: the decisive final rounds were rather uneventful and not very combative on the top boards.

After winning his first six rounds of the tournament – in round 6 against Luxembourg’s youngest FM, Nicolas Bourg – the experienced Loek van Wely, with white in his first GM encounter of the event, beat his compatriot Erik van den Doel in round 7. Van den Doel was in very good form that day, but Van Wely reached a very strong 7/7.

Van den Doel, left, here against Lennart Lennaerts

In the following round, top seed GM Georg Meier, who had already conceded a draw against GM Christopher Noe earlier in the tournament, could not get more than a draw with white against Van Wely.

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That had already virtually decided the battle for first place. With the better tiebreak score in hand – the progressive score – Loek van Wely got to enter round 9 rather relaxed. An early draw against Echternach player and Ukrainian-born GM Andrey Sumets was enough for him to finish in at least shared first place, thanks to his superior tiebreak score.

Since, shortly afterwards, a quick draw was also agreed on board two between GM Anthony Wirig and GM Erik van den Doel, GM Loek van Wely, in his fourth appearance in Echternach, was confirmed as the winner soon after the start of the round, to the delight of many Dutch players present. Unlike in some previous years, he was the outright winner, half a point ahead of five players tied on 7½ points.

Final standings – Top 25

(Find all technical info on Chess-Results)

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(334 players)

Tropical weather, streams of sparkling wine and a substantial prize fund

The long prize-giving ceremony underlined the high standing the open enjoys in the cultural life of the region. Alongside the mayor of Echternach, Carole Hartmann, Marcel Heinen, president of the sports commission of the municipality of Echternach, also made a point of personally congratulating the winners. Both officials were popular subjects in the many souvenir and winners’ photos.

Carole Hartmann offers her congratulations

As in previous years, numerous special and category prizes were awarded at the prize-giving ceremony. In addition, loyal regular guests were honoured for their 15^th and 25^th tournament appearances with special non-cash prizes – food and breakfast baskets. The traditional gifts of sparkling wine for the clubs with the largest number of participants also contributed to the festive atmosphere. A look at the Chess-Results tables shows which clubs, apart from the host club, sent the most players to the Sauer and were able to head home with crates of sparkling wine in some cases:

• Adults: Noorderwijk, Oberhausen, Bunschoten, Bonneweg
• Juniors: Le Cavalier Differdange

The fact that the tournament attracts numerous titleholders and several grandmasters year after year is due not only to its unique atmosphere but also to the financial framework. According to the official announcement on the tournament website, a substantial total prize fund of around €6,700 was offered, to be paid out in full once the guaranteed minimum number of 250 players was reached. In its 30^th edition, Echternach has once again shown that it is one of the true jewels of Central European rapid chess.

The format of the nine-round rapid tournament was unchanged from the previous year: numerous helpers from the club, two days, 9 rounds, good catering – including freshly grilled food – and the same tournament venue as always in the old abbey, with the Hall of Mirrors, cloisters and adjoining hall. Only the distribution of the rounds was slightly different. This year, 5 rounds were played on Saturday and 4 on Sunday, allowing the prize-giving ceremony to begin shortly before 18:00.

The change of time control introduced in 2024, to 40 minutes per game plus a 5-second increment, again proved successful. Time-scramble battles and flying pieces were not to be seen on the top boards in the Hall of Mirrors. The tournament, registered for FIDE rapid rating evaluation, was confidently run by chief arbiter IA Olivier Jeitz, without any notable incidents. As in the previous year, the results and pairings were published via Chess-Results, and a newly created WhatsApp channel kept participants fully up to date – for example, about newly published pairings.

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As usual – since the tournament began in 1994 – the field was once again a colourful mix of many familiar faces from near and far, especially from the Benelux countries as well as the nearby Rhineland and Ruhr area.

The tournament, with 334 participants, was slightly better attended than last year, despite the ongoing Football World Cup and record temperatures.

The players who topped the standings

The winner with the chief arbiter

At the top, the tournament was just as strong as last year. Among the 36 titleholders were 9 grandmasters. Alongside GM Georg Meier, the rating favourites included GMs Loek van Wely, Erik van den Doel and Andrey Sumets. Also in the field were the Echternach player and new GM Christopher Noe, as well as GMs Anthony Wirig and Thorsten-Michael Haub.

The very experienced IMs Georg Seul, Dieter Morawietz and Michael Hammes could also occasionally be found on the top boards, alongside a few very young participants.

Dieter Morawietz

The women’s prize was won by WIM Inna Agrest, who was once again in good form, with 7 points and 13^th place overall, thus repeating her success from the previous year.

Inna Agrest

Ilona Burak of Ukraine finished a distant second with 5½ points, ahead of Luxembourg-based WGM Narmin Khalafova, who not in good form. The young Belgian player Anastasia Ahn finished fourth, while Maryna Pohrebynska came fifth.

The winners in the women’s category

The best seniors (over 60) were GM Felix Levin (7 points), IM Yuri Boidman (6½ points), IM Georg Seul (6 points, represented in the photo by IM Dieter Morawietz because he was absent) and IM Klaus Klundt (6 points). Leonid Milov and Dieter Morawietz scored slightly better in the age category, but received higher-value prizes in the main category.

The best seniors

Among the juniors (under 18), Ming Sheng had the best result. The Echternach player and rising talent, born in 2013, scored 7 points and achieved an excellent 15^th place. Second in this category was Tykhon Cherniaiev with 6½ points, ahead of Leo Kessler with 6 points and Lucas Tequi with 5½ points.

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The best juniors

The best Luxembourg player was FM Nicolas Bourg of Differdange, who achieved an excellent 17^th place with 6½ out of 9 points. He played particularly strongly on the first day, scoring 5 out of 5, including a win against GM Leonid Milov, and managed to face the eventual tournament winner on board one on Sunday. The next places in this category went to Stefan Maltezeanu, Pierre Gengler and the Echternach junior player Noa Zaccaria.

The best Luxembourgers with the city mayor

As usual, the tournament was very well-organised. This year, the breaks between rounds were held in glorious sunshine and tropical, humid temperatures – by the beer pavilion and grill.

Many thanks to GM Loek van Wely, GM Erik van den Doel, GM Andrey Sumets, FM Lennart Lennaerts and David Ramien for providing game material.