CChessStats

Candidates 2025

Open SwissStandard

24 players participated in this 7-round tournament, held from 16 Jul 2025 to 30 Jul 2025 in Qormi, Malta. 10 titled players. Top 10 Elo average was 2011, and top seed was Colin Pace (🇲🇹 MLT, CM, 2158).

Matthias Gatt (🇲🇹 MLT, 1843) won with 5.0/7, ahead of Colin Pace (5.0) and Jake Darmanin (5.0). Gatt won on tie-break after catching the field in the final round.

The biggest upset came in round 2: Filipina Thornton (WFM, 1715) beat Joseph Grech (CM, 2045), a +330-point gap.

Location
🇲🇹Qormi, Malta
Dates
16 Jul 2025 → 30 Jul 2025
Time control
Standard: 90 minutes for first 40 moves and 15 min. for the rest of the game with 30 sec. increment from move 1
System
Swiss · 7 rounds
Top seed
🇲🇹CMColin Pace2158
Avg top 10
2,011
Participants
24
Titled players · 10
FM×1
CM×8
WFM×1
Federations · 1 represented
🇲🇹Malta×24
Top 3

How it unfolded

Top 6 · 7 rounds

Tight race until R7; 3 players tied at 5.0/7, decided on Buchholz.

Co-leaders
5
2
1
1
1
3
3
23.55.57R1R2R3R4R5R6R7Zerafa takes lead
Darmanin5Gatt5Pace5Zerafa4.5Zerafa4.5Portelli4.5
R4 · LEADER CHANGE23 Jul

FM Patrick Zerafa takes the sole lead (3.5/4).

R7 · TIEBREAK CLUSTER

3 players finish on 5.0/7. Gatt takes the title on Buchholz Cut1 (26.5).

R2 · HEAD-TO-HEAD · WINNER VS 2ND

CM Jake Darmanin lost to Matthias Gatt (White).

Key matchups · top 4

Head-to-head between the four finishers
Player1234
1CMJake Darmanin*
0
—
1
2Matthias Gatt
1
*
1
—
3CMColin Pace—
0
*—
4CMRobert Zerafa
0
——*

Grille américaine

#PlayerEloFedR1R2R3R4R5R6R7PtsBu C1BuSBPerfΔ
1Gatt, Matthias1843MLT+23N+3N+2B−4B−11N+7B+5N5.026.527.019.002090+46.2
2Pace, ColinCM2158MLT=9B+16N−1N+15B+8N+5B=4N5.024.527.518.502047-13.2
3Darmanin, JakeCM2052MLT+20N−1B−10N+19B+18N+9B+6N5.020.522.514.002037-0.8
4Portelli, MatthewCM2125MLTF+12N=5B+1N=6B+11N=2B4.526.026.019.002150+12.8
5Zerafa, PatrickFM2004MLT+15N+13B=4N+11B+7N−2N−1B4.525.528.516.252018+5.2
6Zerafa, RobertCM2088MLT=16B+8N=9B+12N=4N+10B−3B4.524.027.016.502021-9.4
7Cilia Vincenti, DavidCM1994MLT−13B+17N+21B+9N−5B−1N+15B4.022.524.011.001858-22.4
8Saliba, Luke1806MLT=24N−6B+23B+10N−2B=12N+11B4.020.521.09.501947+25.8
9Sacco, Sam1839MLT=2N+14B=6N−7B=12B−3N+20B3.525.527.512.001956+20.0
10Thake, ConradCM1873MLT=11B=21N+3B−8B+13N−6N=14B3.524.025.512.751822-9.8
11Thornton, FilipinaWFM1715MLT=10N+24B+19N−5N+1B−4B−8N3.523.524.09.251933+36.4
12Pala, Onurcan1922MLT+22N−4B+20N−6B=9N=8B=13N3.522.023.08.501854-10.8
13Zammit, Jacob1788MLT+7N−5NF+14B−10B+19N=12B3.521.021.011.251942+25.0
14Lin, Ziyang1667MLT=18B−9N=16B−13N+22B+23N=10N3.516.517.05.751723+22.4
15Richards, John1792MLT−5B+22N=18B−2N+20B=16N−7N3.020.521.55.501814+3.2
16Mizzi, Steve1815MLT=6N−2B=14N+21B=19N=15BF3.019.519.58.001865+6.0
17Dobbin, Andrei1752MLTF−7B+22BF+21N+18BF3.08.58.54.501918+18.0
18Grima Bongailas, Isaac1853MLT=14N−19B=15N+20B−3B−17NF2.018.518.55.251695-50.8
19Psaila, Mario1848MLT=21B+18N−11B−3N=16B−13BF2.018.518.54.251685-26.2
20Saliba, Karl1810MLT−3B+23N−12B−18N−15N+22B−9N2.018.018.51.501607-35.6
21Sammut, RonCM1636MLT=19N=10B−7N−16N−17BF=23B1.516.016.03.001601-7.0
22Briffa, Zachary1416MLT−12B−15B−17N+23B−14N−20NF1.015.515.50.501446+1.2
23Borg, Nikol1479MLT−1B−20B−8N−22NF−14B=21N0.517.017.00.751295-39.6
24Grech, JosephCM2045MLT=8B−11NFFFFF0.57.57.52.001568-47.2

Key insights

Biggest movers and upsets — the story behind the numbers.

Top rating gainers
Top rating losers
Biggest upsets