CChessStats

LVI Festival- under the aegis of BSCF

Open SwissStandard

22 players participated in this 6-round tournament, held from 04 Oct 2025 to 05 Oct 2025 in Plovdiv, GPS(42.1476, 247319), Bulgaria. 4 titled players. Top 10 Elo average was 2042, and top seed was Nikolai Ninov (🇧🇬 BUL, GM, 2321).

Iva Videnova-Kuljasevic (🇧🇬 BUL, IM, 2280) won with 4.5/6, ahead of Nikolai Ninov (4.5) and Ivan Kochiev (4.5). Videnova-Kuljasevic won on tie-break after catching the field in the final round.

The biggest upset came in round 2: Venko Sharkov (1834) beat Ivan Kochiev (CM, 2165), a +331-point gap.

Location
🇧🇬Plovdiv, GPS(42.1476, 247319), Bulgaria
Dates
04 Oct 2025 → 05 Oct 2025
Time control
Standard: 60 minutes with 30 seconds increment from move 1
System
Swiss · 6 rounds
Top seed
🇧🇬GMNikolai Ninov2321
Avg top 10
2,042
Participants
22
Titled players · 4
GM×1
IM×2
CM×1
Federations · 1 represented
🇧🇬Bulgaria×21
Top 3

How it unfolded

Top 6 · 6 rounds

Tight race until R3; 3 players tied at 4.5/6, decided on Buchholz. Title race narrowed from 4 co-leaders at R4 to 3 at the finish.

Co-leaders
8
3
1
4
2
3
1.534.56R1R2R3R4R5R6
Videnova-Kuljasevic4.5Ninov4.5Kochiev4.5Taskov4Ardenski3.5Karadzhov3.5
R3–R6 · LEAD HELD

IM Iva Videnova-Kuljasevic held the sole lead from R3 through R6 without losing it.

R6 · TIEBREAK CLUSTER

3 players finish on 4.5/6. Videnova-Kuljasevic takes the title on Buchholz Cut1 (18.0).

WIN STREAKS · 2 top finishers

GM Nikolai Ninov 4 wins (R2–R5)CM Ivan Kochiev 3 wins (R3–R5)

Key matchups · top 4

Head-to-head between the four finishers
Player1234
1IMIva Videnova-Kuljasevic*—
0
1
2GMNikolai Ninov—*
½
—
3CMIvan Kochiev
1
½
*—
4Atanas Taskov
0
——*

Grille américaine

#PlayerEloFedR1R2R3R4R5R6PtsBu C1BuSBPerfΔ
1Videnova-Kuljasevic, IvaIM2280BUL+12N+8B=5B−3N+4B+9N4.518.020.013.752157-5.8
2Ninov, NikolaiGM2321BULF+11B+6N+7B+8N=3B4.517.517.515.252417+4.3
3Kochiev, IvanCM2165BUL+9B−16N+14B+1B+12N=2N4.516.018.013.752149+4.6
4Taskov, Atanas1774BUL−13N+15B+22N+10B−1N+12B4.013.513.57.001972+37.2
5Marholev, DimitarIM2097BULF+13B=1N=6B=7N+10B3.516.518.510.752157+3.8
6Ardenski, Dimitar2100BUL+21B+14N−2B=5N+11B−7N3.516.517.57.752038-4.6
7Karadzhov, Ivan2127BULF+10B+16N−2N=5B+6B3.516.516.510.252167+8.2
8Merdinyan, Bozhidar1778BUL+17B−1N+9B+13N−2B−14N3.016.018.07.001757-13.2
9Mindilev, Kostadin1645BUL−3N+20B−8N+22B+17N−1B3.015.515.53.501680+0.4
10Merdzhanov, Vladko1738BUL+22B−7N+21B−4N+13B−5N3.014.014.03.001700-7.2
11Lozanov, Svetoslav1940BUL+19B−2N−12B+21N−6N+15B3.013.514.54.501791-19.0
12Manev, Evgenij1671BUL−1B+19N+11NF−3B−4N2.018.019.54.501791+10.6
13Kukov, Dimitar0BUL+4B−5N+15N−8B−10N−17B2.015.517.56.0016020.0
14Filipov, Kotse1701BULF−6B−3N−17N+18B+8B2.015.015.05.001663-7.4
15Vishev, Nikolay1531BULF−4N−13B+19N+21B−11N2.014.015.02.501684+13.6
16Sharkov, Venko1834BUL+20N+3B−7BFFF2.011.511.56.002039+16.4
17Vakrilov, Blagovest1443BUL−8N−21NF+14B−9B+13N2.011.011.04.001482+2.8
18Pavlova, Maria0BULFFF+20B−14N+19N2.05.05.03.0015550.0
19Nenchev, Georgi1454BUL−11N−12B=20N−15B+22N−18B1.510.510.50.751305-14.2
20Penev, Tzvetomir1449BUL−16B−9N=19B−18NF+22B1.58.58.50.751372-13.2
21Vasileva, Cveta1574BUL−6N+17B−10N−11B−15NF1.013.513.52.001485-14.0
22FIDE 29760640—−10NF−4B−9N−19B−20N0.013.013.00.008130.0

Key insights

Biggest movers and upsets — the story behind the numbers.

Top rating gainers
Top rating losers
Biggest upsets