Gergely Antal wins 2023 Hungarian Championship

GM Gergely Antal emerged as the winner of the 2023 Hungarian Individual Chess Championship.

Men, women, and some invited youngsters aspiring for a place in the Hungarian U25 national team in the 2024 Olympiad in Budapest competed in a shared pool but were ranked separately. All in all, 30 players battle it out in a 9-round Swiss tournament from December 12-20, 2023. 

The competition was a very close race of three top-seed participants that boiled down to the final round. Gergely Antal and Adam Kozak jointly led the field after Round 8 with 6/8, closely followed by Tamas Fodor and Adam Horvath on 5.5/8. In the final round, the leaders played with black pieces: Antal faced Horvath, while Kozak took on Oliver Mihok.

Antal scored a crucial victory after his opponent fell into a trap and lost a piece in a roughly equal position to clinch the title, as Kozak could not do much against Mihok and drew the game, taking silver.

Meanwhile, the 2022 Peter Prohaszka totally outplayed Tamas Fodor to leapfrog his opponent and Horvath to secure bronze. All three players making the podium completed the competition unbeaten.

Zsóka Gaál (pictured below) scored 5/9 and became the women’s champion, while Julianna Terbe and Barbara Mihók-Juhász both netted 4.5/9 and tied for second place. Silver goes to Terbe, thanks to a superior Buchholz.

Gergely Kantor (pictured below) was the best U25 player with 5.5/9. Tamas Vanczak scored equal points with Kantor but had to settle for silver due to inferior Buchholz. Gleb Dudin is third with 5/9.

Final standings: