15-Year-Old Savva Vetokhin Wins in Sitges, Celebrated With Fireworks

GM Savva Vetokhin scored an impressive victory in the 2024 Sunway Sitges Chess Festival after cruising through the tournament undefeated and winning 2-0 in the blitz playoff against 22-year-old GM Ido Gorshtein. The teenager's first victory in an open tournament was celebrated with fireworks.

The 15-year-old grandmaster proved he is a player worth watching after clinching victory in the open tournament in Spain, taking down top seed GM Kirill Alekseenko and the 2023 World Junior Champion GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi on the way.

Vetokhin was seeded only 11th in the field but exceeded expectations with an undefeated 8/10 and a 2633 performance. In the final round, he was forced to defend a worse position against third-seed GM Jules Moussard but saved the draw thanks to heroic defense in the rook and bishop endgame.

In the blitz playoff, the teenage grandmaster faced another undefeated player, Gorshtein, who ground down GM David Gavrilescu in the last round.

GM Savva Vetokhin (playing under @FIDE_chess flag) is checking the game between GM Ido Gorshtein 🇮🇱 and GM David Gavrilescu 🇷🇴. Savva knows that a draw (that seems the most possible outcome in his game) secures him at least a spot in a potential playoff if Ido wins his game. pic.twitter.com/k0VPhSOxsT

— Sunway Chess Festival (@SunwayChessOpen) December 22, 2024

Vetokhin, the 2023 World U14 Blitz Champion, had pretty much everything under control in the playoff and won 2-0 to cash in the €5,000 ($5,200) first prize.

(Full standings at Chess-Results.com)

Before we go into details with the chess, we need to provide some background on the tournament. Sitges Chess Festival has, with its ten previous editions, established itself as one of the most popular and well-organized open tournaments in Europe.

The driving force is the Spanish-German head of the Sunway Hotel chain, Oskar Stober Blazquez. When asked about his goal with the event, his response is always the same: "We just want everyone to have a good time." The mission was accomplished once again.

We just want everyone to have a good time.

—Oskar Stöber Blazquez, tournament organizer

Taking place at the Hotel Sunway Playa Golf & Spa in the beautiful Mediterranean coastal town of Sitges, half an hour southwest of Barcelona, it is the perfect location for a December tournament with its pleasant temperatures and picturesque sunsets.

Sunway Sitges Chess Festival is not just about the classical tournaments, as the variety of side events is massive. Rapid, blitz, Chess960, and even bullet tournaments for the chess-hungry players who simply can't have enough. Grandmaster masterclasses are also open and free for everyone.

If you've had enough chess or brought your non-playing family along, there were plenty of opportunities as well. Cooking workshops, wine tasting, or a Christmas decoration course. If you wanted to stay active, you could wake up for the early morning yoga class or join the football, table tennis, and padel tournaments. Or you could go play on the golf court just outside the hotel.

Another factor that makes the tournament a favorite for many is that the organizers are exceptionally generous. A personal favorite was the free snacks, pastries, candies, and soft drinks during the games. That's not all, as both the red carpet party during the event and the closing ceremony offered a free bar.

Another nice detail was the table cards, with every player's photo shown. And at the end of the day, players got an email like this with their pairings. 

Also worth mentioning is the media team run by the Polish company European Chess TV. They ran two professional broadcasts in English (with IM Lawrence Trent and WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili) and Spanish (with GM Jose Carlos Ibarra Jerez and Maria Rodrigo Yanguas), shared hundreds of photos, and documented everything with videos like this.

First 5 days behind us, 5 more to come. Let's see all together who can fight for this year's first prize at #SunwaySitges! pic.twitter.com/RG7WIaxVH4

— Sunway Chess Festival (@SunwayChessOpen) December 18, 2024

This year's event had a total of 361 players from 53 different nations. While the number of participants increased compared to last year, it was notable with 50 fewer Indians. The organizers speculated that it was caused by a clash with the Qatar Masters and the unfortunate robbery incident last year. The Spanish Championship also took place at the same time, which likely had an effect on the Spanish contingent.

No longer sponsored by Chessable, and with a modest prize fund, the tournament is no longer attracting stars such as world number-eleven GM Leinier Dominguez, who showed up last year for later to pull out after he failed his attempt to qualify for the Candidates. It still attracted 17 grandmasters, including the 2673-rated 2022 champion Alekseenko, the top seed.

Another big star is, of course, GM Vasyl Ivanchuk, the second seed in Sitges, who came straight from a 31-move draw in the Qatar Masters to reach the second round in Sitges the next day. This reporter bumped into a yawning 55-year-old in the elevator, ready for breakfast and another game some hours later.

His 1653-rated opponent got a once-in-a-lifetime lesson.

Ivanchuk went on to win his four next games but then suffered his only loss in the tournament when he was outplayed by 20-year-old French GM Joseph Girel.

But the star of the tournament was the 15-year-old grandmaster Vetokhin. The young Russian started with wins against some lower-rated players and then went on to defeat top seed Alekseenko with black, along with the rising star Maurizzi.

The French teenager went for an exciting piece sacrifice but then got lost in the complications that followed.

As the tradition in Sitges goes, a tie meant there would be a playoff outside the hotel. 

The man with the shortest name of all grandmasters, GM Di Li, won the playoff for third place after beating GM Jingyao Tin.

Due to the wind, Vetokhin and Gorshtein had to move indoors for their playoff, but as you can see in the broadcast, the organizers were prepared even for that.

Vetokhin controlled the playoff from start to finish, winning both games. Here's how he won the first one.

Minutes after winning the second blitz game, Vetokhin was guided outside to see this:

Not a bad celebration after winning your first tournament as a 15-year-old. pic.twitter.com/Mp2AJ2wUN3

— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) December 22, 2024

The 15-year-old is not the most known young player but is clearly on the rise after gaining 100 rating points in a year and receiving his grandmaster title in September.

In Sitges, he improved from second place in the El Lobregat Open a week prior, and he has picked up 25 rating points based on his performance in the two tournaments. He is currently eighth on the list of the world's highest-ranked players under 15 years, behind GM Abhimanyu Mishra.

The Sunway Sitges Chess Festival will return in December 2025. Meanwhile, the organizers are already gearing up for the 4th Sunway Formentera Chess Festival, set to take place from April 29 to May 5 on Spain’s beautiful Balearic island of Formentera.

Previous winners include GM Gukesh Dommaraju (2022), GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2023), and GM Alexander Donchenko (2024). Perhaps Vetokhin can add his name to the list?