Baadur Jobava and Nino Batsiashvili have been crowned Georgian chess champions, each claiming their fifth national title.
The 85th Georgian Chess Championship and the 83rd Georgian Women’s Chess Championship were held concurrently in Tbilisi from January 27 to February 5, 2026. Both competitions were 10-player round-robins with classical time control.
Top seed Jobava lived up to his status as the pre‑tournament favorite, seizing the lead in Round 4 and preserving it to the finish. Entering the final round on 5.5/8 – a half‑point ahead of Tornike Sanikidze and a full point ahead of Luka Kiladze – he secured the title with a quick draw against his nearest rival as all other games also ended in draws.
Sanikidze took silver, while Kiladze completed the podium with bronze. Notably, the champion and the runner-up completed the event unbeaten.
Nino Batsiashvili continued her impressive run of strong results, dominating the women’s event. The top seed strung together five consecutive victories in Round 4-8 and secured the title with a round to spare, finishing on 7.5/9.
In the final round, Meri Arabidze defeated Lela Javakhishvili in a hard‑fought encounter and caught up to tie for second place. However, Javakhishvili claimed silver on the Sonneborn–Berger tiebreak, leaving Arabidze with bronze.
