The Hungarian Open Go Championship 2025, a Bonus C tournament in the Grand Prix Circuit took place in Budapest on November 23-24. 62 players from 11 countries took part in the event, including 10 women, which is quite a good ratio for this event!

Lukáš Podpěra 7d, the Czech champion, showcased his powerful skills once more this year, ending the tournament undefeated. His tenacity was at times tested in some very close games, in particular against Pál Balogh 7d (Hungary) and Benjamin Dréan-Guénaïzia 1p (France), he won only by a thin hair.
Second place was taken by Pal Balogh 7d, losing to Lukáš only.
The podium was completed by Dominik Bővíz 6d (Hungary), finishing on 3/5 losing to Benjamin and Lukáš but ahead of Benjamin in the final rankings by SODOS (!).
Benjamin himself finished just above Cornel Burzo 6d (Romania) thanks to a SOS point.

Overall, the tournament was full of suspense, and the games were of great quality. You can revisit some of the experience by watching them online (you can still find the games under the EGF1 account on OGS).

Final top 5:

1. Lukáš Podpěra 7d CZ (5/5)
2. Pál Balogh 7d HU (4/5)
3. Dominik Bővíz 6d HU (3/5)
4. Benjamin Dréan-Guénaïzia 1p FR (3/5)
5. Cornel Burzo 6d RO (3/5)


Among other interesting results, Bende Barcza 5d turned in a great performance - the rising youth star defeated Csaba Mero 6d, earning him the best prize in the U18 category.

Vera Neubauer obtained the best in the U12 category.
The best above 65 (A65) player was Varga Barnabás.

Seven players ended-up with 4 wins out of the five rounds:

Tristan Defer (1d, CZ)
Varga György (1d, HU)
Varga Péter (6k, HU)
Mingzhe Wu (11k, AT)
Dr. Katona Lajos (12k, HU)
Kevin Durant (15k, BE)
Kis-Gadó Dávid (15k, HU)

and finally we had one player who also scored five wins.
Penciu, Sebastian-Nicholas (9k, RO)

All results: https://www.europeangodatabase.eu/EGD/Tournament_Card.php?&key=T251122H 

Huge thanks to the organizing team for this great event, and to László Bővíz for the updates and photos.__PRESENT