Well that’s what NotebookLM concluded and generated the AI infographics based on the results and Chessbase India posts I fed it as “sources”.
Interesting as it’s not far off.
The winner Peng Hongchi is untitled and starting ranked “only” 9th place behind 2 Grandmasters and other titled players.
Goes to show even if one does not have a title, one can win a major tourney in Malaysia.
Also my misconception that since he is untitled, he didn’t have opportunity to “go out” of China to get international exposure. A quick Chessbase search showed how wrong I was.
According to the database he has played the following players at least once over the years:
- Magnus Carlsen (World No. 1 and 5-time World Champion)
- Fabiano Caruana (Former World Championship Challenger and 5-time U.S. Champion)
- Hikaru Nakamura (World-renowned speed chess specialist and top-tier streamer)
- Viswanathan Anand (Former Undisputed World Champion and Indian chess legend)
- Anish Giri (Top-ranked Dutch player and 5-time National Champion)
- Anna Muzychuk (Former Women’s World Rapid and Blitz Champion)
- Etienne Bacrot (Former child prodigy and 8-time French Champion)
- Arkadij Naiditsch (Elite “Giant Slayer” known for multiple victories over Magnus Carlsen)
- Nana Dzagnidze (Olympic Gold Medalist and former European Women’s Champion)
- Matthew Sadler (Two-time British Champion and famous chess author)
So knowing this, it is not surprising Peng Hongchi, the “underdog” took the title 2025 Penang Open Champion. He has played the best in the world and of course there are benefits and improvements to his strength – after all iron sharpens iron.
The top 10 winners of the Open section at the 17th Penang Heritage City Open 2025 are summarized below, based on the final standings:
| Rank | Name | Title | Fed | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hongchi Peng | Untitled | CHN | 7.5 |
| 2 | Suyog Wagh | IM | IND | 7.0 |
| 3 | Konstantin Sek | IM | FID | 6.5 |
| 4 | Mohammadamin Biriya | – | IRI | 6.5 |
| 5 | Almas Rakhmatullaev | IM | UZB | 6.5 |
| 6 | Chun Yung Samuel Lam | FM | HKG | 6.5 |
| 7 | Karthik Rajaa | IM | IND | 6.5 |
| 8 | Alexey Polschikov | IM | FID | 6.5 |
| 9 | Pavel Shkapenko | IM | FID | 6.0 |
| 10 | Ern Jie Anderson Ang | FM | MAS | 6.0 |
The top two positions in the Open section were considered undisputed because they required no tie-breaks to determine the final ranking.
• First Place: Hongchi Peng finished as the sole winner with 7.5/9 points, placing him a clear half-point ahead of the rest of the field. Despite being untitled and seeded ninth, he remained unbeaten throughout the tournament, securing critical wins against the top two seeds (both Grandmasters) in rounds 7 and 8.
• Second Place: IM Suyog Wagh also secured an undisputed second place by finishing with a sole 7/9 points. Like the champion, he remained undefeated throughout the event and drew his head-to-head match against Peng in the fourth round.
While the top two spots were clear, the competition for the remaining positions was much tighter, with six players finishing in a tie at 6.5/9 points, requiring tie-break calculations to determine third through eighth place
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