Pawel Teclaf wins Southend Chess Masters 2025

The Southend Chess Festival 2025 took place 18-21 April in Southend, England. It included a GM round robin, an IM round robin, an open group, U1900, U1600, and U1300.

The winner of the Southend Chess Masters Grandmaster group is GM Pawel Teclaf with 6,5/9. FM Alex Golding finished second with 6,0/5, while FM Sohum Lohia received the bronze, edging GM Vojtech Plat and GM Igor Janik, who all finished with 5,5/9. Alex Golding and Sohum Lohia both won IM norms.

Paweł Teclaf, born June 18, 2003, in Kartuzy, Poland, is a Polish chess Grandmaster (GM) since 2023, having earned the International Master (IM) title in 2019. His peak FIDE rating was 2586 in August 2023, ranking him 7th in Poland and 237th globally at the time. Seven-time Polish Junior Champion in classical chess (2011–2021, ages 8–18) and six-time champion in blitz. Won bronze medals at the World Junior Championships (U10, 2013; U14, 2017). Pawel Teclaf also qualified for the 2021 FIDE World Cup, losing to Gukesh D in the first round.

Southend Chess Masters Grandmaster final standings

1	GM	Teclaf, Pawel	POL	2555	6.5
2	FM	Golding, Alex	ENG	2369	6
3	FM	Lohia, Sohum	ENG	2354	5.5
4	GM	Plat, Vojtech	CZE	2479	5.5
5	GM	Janik, Igor	POL	2520	5.5
6	FM	Lacan Rus, David	FRA	2378	4.5
7	FM	Lim, Zhuo Ren	MAS	2331	4
8	FM	Badacsonyi, Stanley	ENG	2320	3
9	IM	Harvey, Marcus R	ENG	2474	3
10	CM	Khoury, Theo	ENG	2164	1.5

The IM Round Robin was won by Wenxiang Li with 6,5/9, ahead of FM Koby Kalavannan with 6,0/9 and FM Kenneth Hobson with 5,5/9. For Wenxiang Li the result also brings an IM norm.

Southend Chess Masters IM group final standings

1		Li, Wenxiang	CHN	2260	6.5
2	FM	Kalavannan, Koby	ENG	2252	6
3	FM	Hobson, Kenneth	ENG	2331	5.5
4	IM	Zwardon, Vojtech	CZE	2444	5.5
5	IM	Fitzsimons, David	IRL	2303	4.5
6	FM	Ruzhansky, Elias	BEL	2332	4.5
7	FM	Badacsonyi, Frankie	ENG	2150	4
8	FM	Bezuidenhout, Roland	RSA	2311	3.5
9	IM	O’Gorman, Tom	IRL	2391	3.5
10	CM	Shearsby, Jude	ENG	2152	1.5