GRECO, the 4-member team from Ukraine, won the FIDE World Corporate Chess Championship 2025.
PANAJI
While Resort Rio in Arpora is under the spotlight with the ongoing FIDE World Cup, the three-day FIDE World Corporate Chess Championship 2025, held simultaneously, concluded quietly on Sunday.
Twelve corporate teams took part, divided into two groups, with the top two from each advancing to the semifinals. It was GRECO, the four-member team from Ukraine, who claimed the title — their second championship in two weeks following their win in Paris.
Speaking to 'The Goan' shortly after the triumph, Oleksiy Malyy, a partner at GRECO, reflected on the significance of competing in India amid the challenges back home. “It is a great pleasure to be in India and we are very thankful to the organisers. It was not easy for us to get to India because of the war in Ukraine. We have our limitations to travel but thanks to our Ministry of Physical Culture, who helped us with our paperwork, we have been able to travel to Goa.”
Malyy, a Kyiv-based lawyer, said the tournament also offered the rare joy of seeing elite players at close quarters. “For us it was the first time to see strong players like Pragg, Arjun Erigaisi playing at the World Cup. I used to watch them on the internet, but here I can speak with them, personally watch them play. I am very happy.”
GRECO’s win came on the heels of their European Corporate Championship title in Paris, barely a week earlier. “After the Paris event, I immediately decided to travel to Goa as it was necessary tide over the jet lag and to get ready for our next Championship,” Malyy said. He added that the team missed their company head Pavlo Kuftyrev, who fell ill in Paris.
Grinev Valeriy, the Brussels-based project manager, explained that despite being split between Kyiv and Brussels, the team’s preparation remained consistent.
“Nowadays with Zoom, it is not hard to organise a chess conference where we can discuss openings and plan our strategies on our play. Before the war in Ukraine, many of us actively played chess but now it is not so important to us besides having our job as well. But that we have the skills; it does help us in tournaments. It is not that we have come together to play just this tournament, but in the last two years we have participated in corporate chess tournaments in Europe so we have the experience.”
For Goa, he said, the team focused preparation only for the knockout stage. “We only prepared for the semifinals and finals, by checking out the opening repertoire of our opponents. For the group stage, we relied on chess puzzles to get us into the tournament mode.”
Sergii Pavlov, drafted into the team at the last minute, described the difficulty of travelling from Ukraine. “The tournament came to me almost like a miracle. Until the last moment, I did not believe I would participate. We have hard times in Ukraine. For me it took about 24 hours to cross the border. We had to organise the permission for my travel. I had to first go to Poland, and then fly to Goa.”
On his own preparation, he added: “I did not prepare that much. I was relying more on my previous experience. Before Covid, I played more actively. During Covid and war-time, I have played several times in our country. From time to time, I play Blitz and Rapid on my day off in Kyiv. These are small tournaments played among chess lovers.”
Daily life in Ukraine also affects chess activity. “In Ukraine, we have a rolling blackout that last for 16-18 hours per day. With no electricity or internet, it is not easy to play online.”
With travel restrictions and illness affecting the squad, GRECO could field only the minimum four required. “We intended to get six players here but unfortunately one (Pavlo Kuftyrev) got sick and the other did not get permission to cross the border from Ukraine due to strict rules,” Pavlov said.
Volodymyr Onyshchuk, the team’s lone grandmaster and Board 1 spearhead, dropped only half a point during the campaign. “I did not train specifically for this tournament, as it takes a lot of time with my job. But I did prepare with some training games,” he said.
