Georgian Championship 2026: Jobava and Batsiashvili win titles
The Georgian Chess Championship 2026 crowned two strong champions. Grandmaster Baadur Jobava won the Open title. Woman Grandmaster Nino Batsiashvili won the Women’s title. Both players claimed their fifth national championship, showing their consistency and experience.
The 85th Georgian Open Championship and the 83rd Georgian Women’s Championship took place together in Tbilisi. The event ran from January 27 to February 5, 2026. Both tournaments featured 10 players in a round-robin format with classical time control. Every player faced all others once, making the competition tough and fair.
Baadur Jobava entered the event as the top seed and clear favorite. He took the lead in Round 4 and never lost it. Before the final round, he had 5.5 points out of 8. He was half a point ahead of Tornike Sanikidze and one point ahead of Luka Kiladze. In the last round, Jobava made a quick draw against Sanikidze and secured the championship. All other final games also ended in draws.
Tornike Sanikidze finished second and won the silver medal. Luka Kiladze placed third and took bronze. Importantly, both Jobava and Sanikidze remained unbeaten throughout the event, which shows high-quality play.
In the Women’s Championship, Nino Batsiashvili dominated from the start. She won five games in a row from Round 4 to Round 8. This strong streak helped her secure the title one round early. She finished with an impressive 7.5 points out of 9.
In the final round, Meri Arabidze defeated Lela Javakhishvili in a hard-fought game. This win allowed Arabidze to tie for second place. However, Javakhishvili won the silver medal based on the Sonneborn–Berger tiebreak system. Arabidze earned the bronze medal.
The championship highlighted the strength of Georgian chess and produced exciting battles across both sections. Photos of the event were shared by the Georgian Chess Federation on Facebook.
Photos: FIDE_Chess
Source: FIDE CHESS NEWS
