47th Ghent Open International Chess Tournament

Koninklijke Gentse Schaakkring Ruy Lopez

The Ghent Open 2026 will once again take place at Sint-Barbaracollege in Ghent.

In 2024, the church was available as a chess venue for the first time. The many positive responses we received in 2024 and 2025 show that this was a successful initiative.

The church will also be available for this tournament.

Registration and Sign-Up

The FIDE rated tournament

Belgian players must either have a valid FIDE ID or be members of the KBSB. As a FIDE ID is automatically generated for Belgian players when the tournament is submitted to FIDE, it is not necessary to apply for an ID in advance. Foreign players must have a valid FIDE ID.

You can look up your FIDE ID here:
https://ratings.fide.com/

You don't have a FIDE ID yet? Here's how to apply for one:
The Netherlands: https://schaakbond.nl/rating/fide-rating/
England: https://britchess.wufoo.com/forms/fide-id-request-form-2024/
Germany: https://www.schachbund.de/fide-identifikationsnummer.html
Other federations: contact the federation: https://directory.fide.com/list/member_federations/main


All tournaments

After registering online, participants will receive an e-mail confirming their registration and requesting payment. Online registration is open until Saturday 11 July 2026 at 11.59 p.m. After that, registration will no longer be possible!

Once the maximum number of participants has been reached, participants will be placed on a waiting list. If players withdraw from the tournament, participants on the waiting list will be contacted to ask if they still wish to participate. There are two waiting lists, one for the 55+ tournament and one for the other two tournaments.

Two days after the deadline for payment of the registration fee, all participants who have paid will receive a personalised link by e-mail that they can use to sign up. If a participant wishes to make any changes (change of tournament, representing a different club), they must send an e-mail/WhatsApp message to have this adjusted. A list of all participants who have completed the form will be published on the tournament website. Online registration will close on Thursday evening, 16/07 at 11 PM.

Pairings

The pairings for round 1 will be published on Friday evening around 8 PM, but these are subject to change. If there are any cancellations between Friday evening 8 PM and Saturday 12 noon, the pairings may still be adjusted.

The secretariat will be open on Saturday from 10 AM to assist participants with any questions. Participants on the waiting list who have not yet paid can pay their registration fee here.

Once again, all participants will have the option of receiving their pairing via a WhatsApp message or SMS.

In addition, the organisation can also use a communication channel to send (one-way) messages. These are mainly announcements that the pairings are available, lost property, as well as announcements regarding registrations.

Contact

Address

Sint-Barbaracollege
Savaanstraat 33
B-9000 GENT

Phone number

+32 471 94 02 19
Preferably via WhatsApp

E-mail

Schaakhuis Caïssa - KGSRL
Abrahamstraat 46
B-9000 Gent
Ondernemingsnummer
0411.954.149
RPR Gent
www.kgsrl.be
info@kgsrl.be - caissa@kgsrl.be