Maltese Chess Championship

The Maltese Chess Championship is the yearly chess championship organised by the Malta Chess Federation in Malta which determines the national champion. Initially it consisted of an Open Championship.

Now the National championships also include the Junior Championships, the Rapid Championships and the Blitz Championships.

The current open National Champion is Jack Mizzi. Jack Mizzi holds 2 other National titles: National Rapid Champion and National Blitz Champion.

The current 2025 Malta Junior Chess Champion is Matthew Portelli.

Malta Open Championships

The first recorded open championship was held in 1923 and was won by Oscar Serracino-Inglott. Harry Camilleri won the championship a record eighteen times, first in 1965 and last in 2005, at the age of 72.

The current Malta Open Chess Champion is Jack Mizzi.

Candidates phase

To qualify for the Final phase of the Open Championship a player needs to have either placed first or second in the previous year or have placed in the top N of the Candidates phase of that year. N is determined by the number of participants.[1]

Preliminaries Phase

To qualify for the Candidates, a player must have reached an established Elo rating, currently 1700, or have placed in the top N of the Preliminaries.[1] The youngest player to have won the Preliminaries in Malta is Jack Mizzi.[2]

Past Winners of Final Stage

# Year Winner[3]
1 1923 Oscar Serracino-Inglott
2 1925 Oscar Serracino-Inglott
3 1926 Oscar Serracino-Inglott
4 1927 Erin Serracino-Inglott
5 1928 Erin Serracino-Inglott
6 1930 Erin Serracino-Inglott
7 1934 John Soler
8 1935 Carmelo Frisk
9 1936 Richard Soler
10 1937 Frank Ellul
11 1938 Richard Soler
12 1939 Richard Soler
13 1940 Richard Soler
14 1946 Wilfred Attard
15 1948 John Soler
16 1949 Richard Soler
17 1950 Wilfred Attard
18 1953 Wilfred Attard
19 1954 Wilfred Attard
20 1955 Giuseppe Mifsud Bonnici
21 1956 John Soler
22 1957 Wilfred Attard
23 1958 Wilfred Attard
24 1959 Wilfred Attard
25 1960 Wilfred Attard
26 1961 Wilfred Attard
27 1962 Claude Sollars
28 1963 Wilfred Attard
29 1964 Wilfred Attard
30 1965 Harry Camilleri
31 1966 Harry Camilleri
32 1967 Harry Camilleri
33 1968 Harry Camilleri
34 1969 Harry Camilleri
35 1970 Harry Camilleri
36 1971 Harry Camilleri
37 1972 Harry Camilleri
38 1973 Adriano Gouder
39 1974 Harry Camilleri
40 1975 Adriano Gouder
41 1976 Harry Camilleri
42 1977 Harry Camilleri
43 1978 Harry Camilleri
44 1979 Harry Camilleri
45 1980 Wilfred Attard
46 1981 Harry Camilleri
Joseph Gauci
47 1982 Josef Lauri
48 1983 Geoffrey Borg
49 1984 Geoffrey Borg
50 1985 Geoffrey Borg
51 1986 Geoffrey Borg
52 1987 Geoffrey Borg
53 1988 Conrad Thake
54 1989 Harry Camilleri
55 1990 Harry Camilleri
56 1991 Peter Sammut Briffa
57 1992 Stefan Camilleri
58 1993 Timothy Mifsud
59 1994 Timothy Mifsud
60 1995 Timothy Mifsud
61 1996 Timothy Mifsud
62 1997 Timothy Mifsud
63 1998 Timothy Mifsud
64 1999 Harry Camilleri
65 2000 David Cilia Vincenti
66 2001 Peter Sammut Briffa
67 2002 Peter Sammut Briffa
68 2003 Colin Pace
69 2004 Andrew Borg
70 2005 Harry Camilleri
71 2006 Colin Pace
72 2007 Patrick Zerafa
73 2008 Colin Pace
74 2009 Colin Pace
75 2010 Colin Pace
76 2011 Colin Pace
77 2012 Colin Pace
78 2013 Joseph Gauci
79 2014 Joseph Gauci
80 2015 Colin Pace
81 2016 Robert Zerafa
82 2017 Robert Zerafa
83 2018 Robert Zerafa
84 2019 Robert Zerafa
85 2020 Jake Darmanin
86 2021 Robert Zerafa
87 2022 David Cilia Vincenti
88 2023 Colin Pace
89 2024 Jack Mizzi

Malta Rapid Championships

Since 2017, the Malta Chess Federation started organising the Malta National Rapid Championship.

In 2021 an online Rapid Gran Prix was held and this was won by Jack Mizzi.[4] The 2022 Malta Rapid champion was Jack Mizzi.[5][6]

# Year Winner
1 2017 Jake Darmanin
2 2018 Jake Darmanin
3 2019 Jake Darmanin
4 2021 Jack Mizzi[7]
5 2022 Jack Mizzi

Malta Blitz Championships

Since 2017, the Malta Chess Federation started organising the Malta National Blitz Championship.

In 2021, an online Blitz Gran Prix was held and this was won by Jack Mizzi.[4] The 2022 and 2023 Malta Blitz champion was Jack Mizzi.[6][5] Jack Mizzi set a new Malta Chess record when he won the 2023 Blitz championship with a perfect 9-0 score.[8] In 2024 Mizzi won the Malta Blitz Chess Championship for the 4th consecutive time.[9]

# Year Winner
1 2017 Jake Darmanin
2 2018 Jake Darmanin
3 2019 Matthew Fleri
4 2021 Jack Mizzi
5 2022 Jack Mizzi
6 2023 Jack Mizzi
7 2024 Jack Mizzi

Malta Junior championships

The first Malta Junior Championship was held in 1946 but the Malta Chess Federation only has records since 1987.[10]

The current 2025 Malta Junior Chess Champion is Matthew Portelli.

# Year Winner[10]
1 1987 Duncan Vella
2 1988 Joseph Stafrace
3 1989 Joseph Stafrace
4 1990 Joseph Stafrace
5 1991 Duncan Vella
6 1992 Timothy Mifsud
7 1993 Timothy Mifsud
8 1994 Timothy Mifsud
9 1995 Peter Pullicino
10 1996 David Cilia Vincenti
11 1997 Colin Pace
12 1998 Timothy Mifsud
13 1999 Colin Pace
14 2000 Daniel Abela
15 2001 Daniel Abela
16 2002 Daniel Abela
17 2003 Charles Sinn
18 2004 Mark Cardona
19 2005 Mark Cardona
20 2006 Mark Cardona
21 2007 Robert Zerafa
22 2008 Robert Zerafa
23 2009 Robert Zerafa
24 2010 Andre Xuereb
25 2011 Jake Darmanin
26 2012 Jake Darmanin
27 2013 Jake Darmanin
28 2014 Jake Darmanin
29 2015 Jurgen Grima
30 2016 Jamie Farrugia
31 2017 Steve Mizzi
32 2018 Matthew Fleri
33 2019 Cosmin Alexa
34 2021 Matthew Fleri
35 2022 Jack Mizzi[7]
36 2023 Jack Mizzi[11]
37 2024 Jack Mizzi[12]
38 2025 Matthew Portelli[13]

References

  1. ^ a b Malta Chess Federation (22 January 2022). "MCF Statute" (PDF). Malta Chess Federation. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  2. ^ Weenink, Steffie (2019-03-15). "WATCH: This 12-Year-Old Boy Might Be Well On His Way To Becoming Malta's Youngest Chess Champion". Lovin Malta. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  3. ^ "Past Malta Champions - Malta Chess Federation". 2021-01-08. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
  4. ^ a b "Jack Mizzi wins Blitz and Rapid Online Grand Prix - Malta Chess Federation". 2021-05-30. Retrieved 2022-12-04.
  5. ^ a b "Chess: Jack Mizzi jirbaħ żewġ titli nazzjonali f'ġurnata waħda - ONE". 2022-12-10. Archived from the original on 2022-12-10. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  6. ^ a b "Jack Mizzi inkurunat Champion nazzjonali taċ-Chess". NETnews (in Maltese). 2022-12-05. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  7. ^ a b "Jack Mizzi", Wikipedija (in Maltese), 2022-12-17, retrieved 2022-12-17
  8. ^ SportsDesk (2023-10-06). "Jack Mizzi in record run at the Malta Blitz Chess Championship". SportsDesk. Retrieved 2023-10-06.
  9. ^ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - Malta Open Blitz Championship 2024". chess-results.com. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
  10. ^ a b "Past Malta Junior Champions - Malta Chess Federation". 2021-01-25. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
  11. ^ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - Malta Junior Chess Championships 2023". chess-results.com. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
  12. ^ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - Junior Championships U14-U20s 2024". chess-results.com. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  13. ^ Novak, Robert (March 30, 2025). "Matthew Portelli wins National Junior Chess Championship 2025". Malta Chess Federation.
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