The 20th Anniversary International chess festival Aeroflot Open 2025 has started in Moscow. 

For the first time in the history of the festival, the draw ceremony took place in the format of an «Armageddon» match between two-time Russian champion Vladislav Artemiev and the winner of the 2024 tournament, Amin Tabatabai. As a result of the game, Vladislav Artemiev emerged victorious and chose the black pieces for the rating favorite.

The festival will be held from March 1 to March 6 at The Carlton hotel, Moscow. Around 140 athletes from 14 countries will compete in the main tournament, including 45 grandmasters with international titles. More than 40 children have signed up for the children’s tournament. The program includes an open tournament for participants with a FIDE rating above 2300, and a children’s tournament, featuring young players up to 15 years old.

This year’s Aeroflot Open 2025 will feature: three-time World Blitz Champion, Russian Champion, two-time Olympic Champion, and four-time World Team Champion Alexander Grischuk; reigning World Blitz Champion, two-time Russian Champion, European Champion, and two-time World Team Champion Ian Nepomniachtchi; top Russian grandmasters Daniil Dubov, Andrey Esipenko, and Vladislav Artemiev; as well as renowned grandmasters Hans Niemann (USA), Richard Rapport (Hungary), Shamsiddin Vokhidov (Uzbekistan), Raunak Sadhwani (India), winner of the Aeroflot Open 2024 Mohammad Amin Tabatabai (Iran), and many other titled athletes.

In Aeroflot Open 2025 – Children, will participate leading young chess players — medalists of Russian and international competition.

The prize fund for the main competition is 19,6 million rubles, with the winner receiving 4 million rubles. The children’s tournament has a prize fund of 400,000 rubles.

Aeroflot Open has been held since 2002. In 2004, it was included in the Guinness Book as the biggest chess tournament in the world. The annual competition was suspended in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.