CChessStats

LIX festival"FIRST WEEKEND"- under the aegis of BSCF

Open SwissStandard

18 players participated in this 6-round tournament, held from 03 Jan 2026 to 04 Jan 2026 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. 2 federations represented. Top 10 Elo average was 1742, and top seed was Georgi Al. Georgiev (🇧🇬 BUL, 1921).

Venko Sharkov (🇧🇬 BUL, 1845) won with 4.5/6, ahead of Krum-Petar Kisyov (4.0) and Kotse Filipov (4.0). Sharkov won solo starting round 5.

The biggest upset came in round 3: Krum-Petar Kisyov (1558) beat Bozhidar Merdinyan (1805), a +247-point gap.

Location
🇧🇬Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Dates
03 Jan 2026 → 04 Jan 2026
Time control
Standard: 60 minutes with 30 seconds increment from move 1
System
Swiss · 6 rounds
Avg top 10
1,742
Participants
18
Federations · 2 represented
🇧🇬Bulgaria×17
🇨🇦Canada×1
Top 3

How it unfolded

Top 6 · 6 rounds

Venko Sharkov led from R5; +0.5-point edge over the runner-up. Title race converged from 3 co-leaders at R4 to 1 by R5.

Co-leaders
6
1
2
3
1
1
1.534.56R1R2R3R4R5R6Sharkov takes lead
Sharkov4.5Filipov4Vasileva4Bekirski4Kisyov4Yanakov3.5
R5 · LEADER CHANGE04 Jan

Venko Sharkov takes the sole lead (4.0/5).

R2 · HEAD-TO-HEAD · WINNER VS 2ND

Venko Sharkov drew with Kotse Filipov (Black).

R1–R6 · UNBEATEN

Venko Sharkov went unbeaten across 6 games (R1–R6).

Key matchups · top 4

Head-to-head between the four finishers
Player1234
1Venko Sharkov*
½
—
1
2Kotse Filipov
½
*
1
—
3Cveta Vasileva—
0
*—
4Traycho Bekirski
0
——*

Grille américaine

#PlayerEloFedR1R2R3R4R5R6PtsBu C1BuSBPerfΔ
1Sharkov, Venko1845BUL+9B=3N+10B=15N+4B=2N4.518.020.015.001860+3.8
2Kisyov, Krum-Petar1558BULF+11N+6B=4N+3B=1B4.018.518.514.252037+59.4
3Filipov, Kotse1710BUL+16N=1B=8N+5B−2N+13B4.018.019.511.751767+9.8
4Bekirski, Traycho1888BUL+13N+12B=15N=2B−1N+11B4.016.018.010.501799-11.4
5Vasileva, Cveta1557BUL−8B+17N+14B−3N+9B+15N4.014.515.58.501743+28.4
6Merdinyan, Bozhidar1805BUL=7N+13B−2N=8B=12N+18B3.515.516.58.001642-40.4
7Yanakov, Hristian1515BUL=6B=10N−11B=14N+16B+12B3.514.015.58.501702+58.4
8Lozanov, Svetoslav1862BUL+5N−15B=3B=6N=10B=9N3.017.519.510.751653-31.0
9Panov, Stanislav T.1543BUL−1N+16B+12N=11B−5N=8B3.016.518.06.751690+42.0
10Manev, Evgenij1672BUL+18N=7B−1N−12B=8N+16N3.015.016.05.751600-9.8
11Taskov, Atanas1738BULF−2B+7N=9N+15B−4N2.517.019.07.001627-28.8
12Merdzhanov, Vladko1690BUL+17B−4N−9B+10N=6B−7N2.517.018.05.751588-17.2
13Stoyanova, Stela1581CAN−4B−6N=17B+18N+14B−3N2.515.016.04.001523-18.8
14Vishev, Nikolay1514BULF+18B−5N=7B−13N+17N2.513.514.53.751437-9.0
15Yanakov, Stoyan1631BULF+8N=4B=1B−11N−5B2.018.018.07.251706+17.2
16Vakrilov, Blagovest1445BUL−3B−9N+18B=17N−7N−10B1.514.515.51.501211-23.0
17Nenchev, Georgi1440BUL−12N−5B=13N=16B−18N−14B1.013.014.02.001318-14.8
18Kisyov, Georgi0BUL−10B−14N−16N−13B+17B−6N1.013.014.01.0013040.0

Key insights

Biggest movers and upsets — the story behind the numbers.

Top rating gainers
Top rating losers
Biggest upsets