Bavarian Open Draws 555 Players to Close Europe's October

The largest field in our October selection for Europe was the 29. Offene Internationale Bayerische Schachmeister, with 555 players registered. It is a classical open in Gmund am Tegernsee, Germany, running nine days from October 31 into November 8, so most of it falls in the following month.

Arco and the long classical opens

In Italy, the 48th International Chess Open Citta di Arco, section A ran October 3 to 11 in Arco, Trentino, and drew 210 players. A second section, Arco B, started a day later and finished the same day with 44 players.

Norway’s Fagernes International Autumn 2026 GM-group shared the October 3 to 11 dates, with an ELO-group alongside it. Both ran nine days in Fagernes.

The Netherlands had the Hoogeveen Open 2026, also nine days, from October 10 to 18, and drew 63 players.

Military and coastal events

The 36th NATO Chess Championship 2026 was held October 12 to 16 at the Baltic Beach Hotel in Jurmala, Latvia. The Latvian National Armed Forces Sports Club organized the five-day event, which had 136 players.

Croatia’s 5. Open Arsenal Hvar 2026 ran seven days, October 19 to 25, at Arsenal Hvar. Chess Club Hvar organized it, and 145 players signed up.

Shorter events in Germany and beyond

Germany supplied several events of about four days. The Wormser Nibelungenopen 2026 A-Turnier had 104 players in Worms from October 8 to 11, and its B-Turnier had 95.

The 2. Zimmner Jubiläumsopen in Groß-Zimmern ran October 1 to 4 with 76 players.

In Freiburg, the 1. Freiburger Bogoljubow Open A-Turnier opened October 28 with 75 players.

In Bulgaria, the Golden Rhodopes Chess Festival 2026 ran three days in Zlatograd and attracted 121 players. Spain’s XV Open Ciudad de Alfaro in La Rioja had 76 players over October 9 to 12.

Late-month starts

The month ended with a run of openings on October 30 and 31. Brno hosted the Brno Open 2026 B FIDE open with 92 players, while Portugal’s IV Open Internacional de Xadrez Cidade de Lagos had 82.

Romania’s Cupa Orasului Tasnad drew 94 players for three days at a thermal-baths pavilion. Malta’s SCC Weekend Classics International Open October at Swieqi Chess Club had 35.

Elsewhere, the Czech under-16 youth championship’s FIDE open, Mistrovství Čech mládeže do 16 let Fide Open, ran eight days at Hotel FitFun Harachov with 70 players. North Macedonia’s Carevi Kuli open in Strumica had 69 players over four days.