For the first time, the Rotary Club Debrecen and the Debrecen Chess Friends Club organized a chess festival in Debrecen on November 22, 2025.
The Rotary Chess Festival, held at the G4 Fitness sports hall, was attended by around 200 participants.
At the opening of the festival, Klára Réka Bognár, this year’s president of the Rotary Club Debrecen, said that an event is being launched that is not just a competition but intended to become a tradition. Sports and community-building are important pillars of city life. For the Rotary movement, chess has special significance. The core values of the game – thinking, strategy, patience, and fair play – align with the fundamental principle of Rotary, which is based on service, writes debrecen.hu.
The festival not only offers the opportunity to compete but also provides a space for meeting others, personal development, and supporting the growth of young talents. It was created to give a new momentum to chess life in Debrecen and to form a community where beginners and advanced players, children and adults alike, can feel at home.
Organizers hope that the first Rotary Chess Festival will provide an experience that all participants will fondly remember and that will establish a tradition for the coming years. Klára Réka Bognár emphasized that thanks are due to everyone who worked to make this festival possible – organizers and volunteers, partners, and supporters.
The winners of the Debrecen tournament in the various groups were as follows:
-
Group A: 1. Egor Buykov, 2. Imre Héra Jr., 3. Kristóf Kovács
-
Group B: 1. Glib Grabovskyi, 2. András Holácsik, 3. Péter Szabó F.
-
Group C: 1. Gábor Papp, 2. Dénes Zalán Paul, 3. Máté Alexa
-
Group D: 1. Levente Kozák, 2. Bence Petrus, 3. Csaba Bökönyi
The festival’s special guest was international grandmaster Benjámin Gledura, who, after the awards ceremony, played a simultaneous exhibition against 26 participants drawn from the attendees. The grandmaster won 25 of the games, with one ending in a draw.
A similar chess tournament will be held on January 24, 2026, in Nyíregyháza at the County Hall.
