With a prize fund of USD 140,000, the 2025 Jerusalem Chess Festival is the most lucrative tournament ever organised in Israel. The rapid chess tournament is held in two stages. First, a 9-round Swiss Open with 420 players was played. Then followed the Masters with ten invited players and the two best players from the Open.
The Masters was divided into two phases. First, the twelve participants played each other in a round-robin format. The top four advanced to the knockout phase. Several strong and prominent players were invited to the final, including world number five Arjun Erigaisi, multiple world champion and current FIDE vice-president Viswanathan Anand, and two-time world vice-champion Ian Nepomniachtchi. There was recently a public controversy between the best Israeli player, Boris Gelfand, and the Israeli Chess Federation, as Gelfand was once again not considered for selection.
In the Open, four players scored eight points, with Arseniy Nesterov and Evgeny Alekseev having the best tie-break scores and advancing to the Masters. Grandmasters Daniel Fridman and Vitaly Kunin from Germany took part, but both failed to make it to the Masters.
Final standings Open
| 1 | GM | Nesterov, Arseniy | 2540 | 8 | 0 |
| 2 | GM | Alekseev, Evgeny | 2533 | 8 | 0 |
| 3 | GM | Nikolov, Momchil | 2489 | 8 | 0 |
| 4 | GM | Gorshtein, Ido | 2449 | 8 | 0 |
| 5 | GM | Mirzoev, Azer | 2509 | 7,5 | 0 |
| 6 | GM | Harikrishnan.A.Ra, | 2293 | 7,5 | 0 |
| 7 | GM | Romanov, Evgeny | 2481 | 7,5 | 0 |
| 8 | IM | Kochavi, Ori | 2293 | 7,5 | 0 |
| 9 | GM | Plat, Vojtech | 2553 | 7 | 0 |
| 10 | GM | Nguyen, Duc Hoa | 2256 | 7 | 0 |
| 11 | GM | Evdokimov, Alexander A. | 2447 | 7 | 0 |
| 12 | GM | Zanan, Evgeny | 2394 | 7 | 0 |
| 13 | IM | Norowitz, Yaacov | 2462 | 7 | 0 |
| 14 | IM | Gorodetzky, David | 2400 | 7 | 0 |
| 15 | IM | Domalchuk-Jonasson, Aleksandr | 2287 | 7 | 0 |
| 16 | IM | Petriashvili, Nikoloz | 2346 | 7 | 0 |
| 17 | GM | Sokolovsky, Yahli | 2397 | 7 | 0 |
| 18 | GM | Kunin, Vitaly | 2502 | 7 | 0 |
| 19 | IM | Tzidkiya, Yeshaayahu | 2349 | 7 | 0 |
| 20 | IM | Bronstein, Or | 2389 | 7 | 0 |
420 players
Peter Svidler proved to be the best player in the Masters round-robin, winning with 8 out of 11. Svidler started with 4.5/5 and then took it a little easier. He remained undefeated throughout the tournament.
Ian Nepomniachtchi, Viswanathan Anand and Arjun Erigaisi finished in second to fourth place, all with 7.5 points. These four players qualified for the knockout stage.
Final standings Masters round-robin
| 1 | GM | Svidler, Peter | 2669 | 8 | 0 |
| 2 | GM | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2762 | 7,5 | 0 |
| 3 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | 2727 | 7,5 | 0 |
| 4 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | 2708 | 7,5 | 0 |
| 5 | GM | Nesterov, Arseniy | 2540 | 6,5 | 1 |
| 6 | GM | Alekseev, Evgeny | 2533 | 6,5 | 2 |
| 7 | GM | Gorshtein, Ido | 2449 | 6 | 0 |
| 8 | GM | Rodshtein, Maxim | 2600 | 4 | 0 |
| 9 | GM | Fedoseev, Vladimir | 2740 | 3,5 | 1 |
| 10 | GM | Sokolovsky, Yahli | 2397 | 3,5 | 2 |
| 11 | GM | Kobo, Ori | 2411 | 3 | 0 |
| 12 | GM | Boruchovsky, Avital | 2487 | 2,5 | 0 |
Games Masters round-robin
The knockout matches will be played on Wednesday (3 December). The semi-finals will see Peter Svidler take on Arjun Erigaisi and Ian Nepomniachtchi face Viswanathan Anand. The matches will be played over two rapid chess games with 15 minutes plus five seconds increment per move. In the event of a tie, there will be a tie-break consisting of two blitz games (3+2). If there is still no decision, an Armageddon game will follow.
