Sardinia World Chess Festival 2025 Round 4: Yoo, Leon and Loic keep the lead

by Himank Ghosh - 29/04/2025

After 4 rounds of play at the Sardinia World Chess Festival 2025, there are 3 players who share the lead with a perfect 4/4 score - GM Leon Mendonca, GM Christopher Yoo, and IM Loic Travadon. The biggest result of the day was undoubtedly IM Loic Travadon winning a fantastic game with the Black pieces against the top Italian seed, GM Francesco Sonis! SL Narayanan scored his 3rd win in a row to chase the leaders with 3.5/4 points. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Loic Travadon takes down top Italian Seed

IM Loic Travadon played a wonderful game with the Black pieces to defeat GM Francesco Sonis. Taking over control right out of the opening, Loic did not allow his opponent any chances, and went on to win comfortably! With this win, Loic is now one of the 3 leaders with a perfect 3/3 score.

IM Loic Travadon (2451, FRA) figuring out the opening intricacies against GM Francesco Sonis (2576, ITA) | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Grandmaster Leon Mendonca played a great game with the Black pieces to defeat Grandmaster Yahli Sokolovsky. Entering a wild tactical position, Leon showed his superior preparation and understanding of the position to secure a winning position early out of the opening. He then went on to win, joining the leaders pack with a perfect 4/4 points!

Grandmaster Leon Luke Mendonca (2643, IND) thinking over the opening moves against GM Yahli Sokolovsky (2546, ISR). Photo: Niklesh Jain

SL Narayanan's Masterclass! Punishing a Positional Mistake , Game of the Day | Video: ChessBase India

Grandmaster Christopher Yoo (2588) played a splendid game with the Black pieces to drive the advantage home against Grandmaster Harshit Raja (2474). Yoo thoroughly outplayed his opponent in the middlegame, and managed to win in just 30 moves!

GM Harshit Raja (2474, IND) and GM Christopher Woojin Yoo (2588, USA) just before the start of the round | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Grandmaster SL Narayanan (2601) scored his 3rd win in a row! SL played a spectacular game with the White pieces to defeat IM Miguoel Admiral (2454). He managed to positionally outplay his opponent and win his game in just 27 moves!

GM SL Narayanan (2601, IND) en route to defeat IM Migouel Admiral (2454, NED). | Photo: Niklesh Jain

FM Francesco Bettalli (2355, ITA) pulled off a surprise win against GM Lorenzo Lodici (2570, ITA) | Photo: Niklesh Jain

IM Oliwia Kiolbasa (2361, POL) pulled off a great win against GM Rainer Knaak (2472, GER) with the Black pieces! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Replay all the Round 4 Games

Open-A Round 4 Results

Bo.	No.		White	Gr	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Gr	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	9	GM	Sokolovsky, Yahli		2546	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke		2643	2	PGN
2	12	GM	Raja, Harshit		2474	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Yoo, Christopher Woojin		2588	4	PGN
3	5	GM	Sonis, Francesco		2576	3	0 - 1	3	IM	Travadon, Loic		2451	16	PGN
4	3	GM	Narayanan S, L		2601	2½	1 - 0	2½	IM	Admiraal, Miguoel		2454	15	PGN
5	7	GM	Lodici, Lorenzo		2570	2½	0 - 1	2½	FM	Bettalli, Francesco		2355	28	PGN
6	21	IM	Favaloro, Andrea		2422	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Amar, Elham		2546	8	PGN
7	13	GM	Knaak, Rainer		2472	2½	0 - 1	2½	IM	Kiolbasa, Oliwia		2361	27	PGN
8	23	IM	Yaniv, Yuval		2407	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Martinovici, Ilia		2459	14	PGN
9	1	GM	Dardha, Daniel		2650	2	1 - 0	2	FM	Kalosha, Zhiulien Oleksii		2315	32	PGN
10	33	FM	Xu, Grant		2304	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Samunenkov, Ihor		2572	6	PGN
11	37	FM	Haver, Bas		2281	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Moroni, Luca Jr		2545	10	PGN
12	11	GM	Stocek, Jiri		2492	2	0 - 1	2	FM	Urbani, Gabriel		2277	38	PGN
13	17	IM	Lumachi, Gabriele		2443	2	½ - ½	2	FM	Perossa, Nicolas		2274	40	PGN
14	18	IM	Panjwani, Raja		2443	2	0 - 1	2	FM	Zakin, Ilay		2254	43	PGN
15	19	FM	Vagman, Roy		2437	2	0 - 1	2	FM	Hercegovac, Neven		2238	45	PGN

Open-A Standings after Round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	K	rtg+/-
1	2	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke	IND	2643	4	4	10,5	10,50	2378	10	8,4
2	16	IM	Travadon, Loic	FRA	2451	4	4	9	9,00	2293	10	12,6
3	4	GM	Yoo, Christopher Woojin	USA	2588	4	4	7,5	7,50	2350	10	9
4	28	FM	Bettalli, Francesco	ITA	2355	3,5	4	9	7,75	2438	20	38,6
5	3	GM	Narayanan S, L	IND	2601	3,5	4	8,5	7,75	2263	10	2,1
6	27	IM	Kiolbasa, Oliwia	POL	2361	3,5	4	8,5	7,00	2254	10	10,5
7	12	GM	Raja, Harshit	IND	2474	3	4	12,5	8,50	2335	10	3,5
8	9	GM	Sokolovsky, Yahli	ISR	2546	3	4	11	7,00	2364	10	1,7
9	14	IM	Martinovici, Ilia	MDA	2459	3	4	10,5	7,25	2280	10	1,4
10	8	GM	Amar, Elham	NOR	2546	3	4	10	7,00	2317	10	-1
11	29	FM	Noy, Eyal	ISR	2346	3	4	10	6,00	2234	20	8,6
12	5	GM	Sonis, Francesco	ITA	2576	3	4	9,5	5,50	2340	10	-1
13	21	IM	Favaloro, Andrea	ITA	2422	3	4	9	6,75	2253	10	2
14	10	GM	Moroni, Luca Jr	ITA	2545	3	4	8,5	6,00	2213	10	-4,9
15	24	IM	Fataliyeva, Ulviyya	AZE	2387	3	4	8,5	5,50	2207	10	1,8

Round 5 Pairings for Open-A

Bo.	No.		White	Gr	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Gr	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Mendonca, Leon Luke		2643	4		4	GM	Yoo, Christopher Woojin		2588	4
2	16	IM	Travadon, Loic		2451	4		3½	GM	Narayanan S, L		2601	3
3	27	IM	Kiolbasa, Oliwia		2361	3½		3½	FM	Bettalli, Francesco		2355	28
4	24	IM	Fataliyeva, Ulviyya		2387	3		3	GM	Dardha, Daniel		2650	1
5	38	FM	Urbani, Gabriel		2277	3		3	GM	Sonis, Francesco		2576	5
6	6	GM	Samunenkov, Ihor		2572	3		3	IM	Favaloro, Andrea		2422	21
7	8	GM	Amar, Elham		2546	3		3	IM	Kanyamarala, Tarun		2386	25
8	43	FM	Zakin, Ilay		2254	3		3	GM	Sokolovsky, Yahli		2546	9
9	10	GM	Moroni, Luca Jr		2545	3		3	IM	Yaniv, Yuval		2407	23
10	45	FM	Hercegovac, Neven		2238	3		3	GM	Raja, Harshit		2474	12
11	14	IM	Martinovici, Ilia		2459	3		3	GM	Ibrayev, Nurlan		2367	26
12	13	GM	Knaak, Rainer		2472	2½		3	FM	Noy, Eyal		2346	29
13	53		Balinski, Damian		2183	2½		2½	GM	Lodici, Lorenzo		2570	7
14	15	IM	Admiraal, Miguoel		2454	2½		2½		Sitbon, Itay		2177	55
15	60	FM	Rosh, Jain		2150	2½		2½	IM	Lumachi, Gabriele		2443	17

Check all the details here

Round 4 Livestream: Leon Mendonca (2646, IND) vs Yahil (2546, ISR) | Sardinia World Chess Festival 2025 | Video: Hindi ChessBase India

Round 4 Livestream: GM Sonis Francesco Vs Travadon Loic I Sardinia world chess festival 2025 | Video: UniChess Italy

Photo and video Gallery

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Just look at this little boys pose! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

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The official Hotel for the tournament - ITI Marina Orosei, Sardinia! | Photo: Niklesh Jain

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14-year-old tries to outprepare GM Harshit Raja | Zakin vs Harshit | Sardinia Open 2025 | Video: ChessBase India

Cold-hearted Calculation wins the game | Leon Mendonca vs Raja Panjwani | Sardinia Chess 2025 | Video: ChessBase India

Italy's National Champion makes perfect 3/3 start! | Francesco Sonis - Sardinia World Chess | Video: ChessBase India

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