The 35th Kavala Open "Vasilis Theodoridis" kicked off Round 1 with three strong players battling in Greece's longest-running tournament. Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis faces tough opposition from Iceland's Stefansson Vignir Vatnar and Singapore's Peng Li Min across nine rounds. The 90-minute format with 30-second increments creates enough breathing room for tactical depth without dragging toward draws. Kavala's reputation attracts solid international competition year after year.