GM Luca Moroni and IM Olga Zimina are newly crowned Italian chess champions. Both won their fourth national titles.
The Italian Individual Chess Championship 2025 took place from November 27 to December 8 in the new Technical Center of Italian Chess Federation located in Spilimbergo, Friuli Venezia Giulia region, recently opened in September.
The open event an eleven-player round-robin (Michele Godena had to withdraw for very serious personal reasons) was a fiercely contested tournament with three players – GMs Sabino Brunello, Luca Moroni and IM Francesco Bettalli – sharing the lead with 4.5/6 at the half-way mark.
At this crucial juncture, the top seed Moroni – the only participant rated over 2500 – reeled off three straight wins (including one over Betalli) to surge ahead. Two draws in the last rounds secured him his fourth national crown with a final score of 7.5/10. Brunello finished a half-point behind the champion, remaining the only unbeaten player in the field, while Betalli rounded out the podium with 6/10.
The women’s event, a ten-player round-robin, followed an even more dramatic script coming down to the wire in the final round. IMs Olga Zimina and Marina Brunello dominated the competition and entered the last round tied for the lead with 7/8.
Brunello could not overcome the resistance of WFM Enrica Zito in an opposite-colored bishop endgame and had to settle for a draw, while Zimina scored a crucial victory over WFM Elisa Cassi to clinch the title.
WIM Camelia-Adriana Ciobanu and WFM Giulia Sala shared third place, with the former earning bronze thanks to her victory in their direct encounter.
FM Niccolò Casadio emerged victorious in the Under 20 Open section, while Giulia Sala was crowned the best U20 Woman based on her fourth-place finish in the Women’s Championship.
