Jack Mizzi, a 19-year-old chess talent, has successfully defended his title, winning the Maltese National Chess Championship for the second year in a row.

Just as he did last year, Mizzi went through the entire tournament undefeated, registering one of the highest scores in the competition’s history — 9 out of 10 points. He won every match except for two draws against Robert Novak, who finished in second place.

Novak had a challenging start with two losses and two draws, but bounced back strongly, winning all his remaining games apart from those against Mizzi.

In third place, two points behind Novak, was Matthew Portelli, competing in the championship for only the second time. The 13-year-old prodigy impressed throughout the tournament and secured a place in the national senior team for the upcoming ESNA Games in November. Portelli lost to Mizzi and Novak, drew twice against Colin Pace, and secured victories over Jake Darmanin (2–0) and Matthias Gatt (1.5–0.5).

Veteran Colin Pace endured a slow start, registering three draws and one defeat. He then earned a win over Darmanin but suffered losses to Novak and Mizzi, finishing fourth with four points.

Jake Darmanin came in fifth with 3.5 points, after a strong start with two wins but three straight defeats that followed.

Meanwhile, Matthias Gatt made his debut at this year’s championship. Having just returned from the European University Games, he played all 10 of his matches over 10 consecutive days, finishing with 2.5 points. His most notable result was a win against Novak, along with draws against Pace and Portelli.

Mizzi’s back-to-back national titles further solidify his status as one of Malta’s brightest chess prospects, and he will now look ahead to the international stage with growing momentum.