2023 German Darts Championship

Darts tournamentTemplate:SHORTDESC:Darts tournament
The **2023 Interwetten German Darts Championship** was the thirteenth of thirteen PDC European Tour events on the 2023 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place at Halle 39, Hildesheim, Germany from 8–10 September 2023. It will feature a field of 48 players and £140,000 in prize money, with £25,000 going to the winner.

Michael van Gerwen is the defending champion after defeating Rob Cross 8–5 in the 2022 final, but he lost 7–6 in the semi-finals to Ricardo Pietreczko.

Pietreczko went on to win the title, defeating Peter Wright 8–4 in the final, becoming only the second German player to win a European Tour title, after Max Hopp in the 2018 German Darts Open.

Scott Waites hit a nine-dart finish in his first round defeat against George Killington.

## Prize money

The prize money was increased for the first time in 4 years for all European Tours, with the prize fund increasing to £175,000, with £30,000 to the winner:

* Seeded players who lose in the second round of the event shall not be credited with prize money on any Order of Merit. A player who qualifies as a qualifier, but later becomes a seed due to the withdrawal of one or more other players shall be credited with their prize money on all Orders of Merit regardless of how far they progress in the event.

## Qualification and format

The top 16 entrants from the PDC ProTour Order of Merit on 31 August automatically qualified for the event and were seeded in the second round.

The remaining 32 places went to players from six qualifying events – 24 from the Tour Card Holder Qualifier (held on 6 September), two from the Associate Member Qualifier (held on 21 May), the two highest ranked Germans automatically qualified, alongside two from the Host Nation Qualifier (held on 12 October), one from the Nordic & Baltic Associate Member Qualifier (held on 15 July), and one from the East European Associate Member Qualifier (held 4 June).

On 12 October, it was announced that Number 7 seed Gerwyn Price had withdrawn, meaning that Ross Smith was included from the Reserve List, and with all seeds moving up a place, Smith himself became the Number 16 seed, as the highest ranked qualifier not to be seeded.

The following players took part in the tournament:

2. Damon Heta  *(Quarter-finals)*
3. Luke Humphries  *(Semi-finals)*
4. Dirk van Duijvenbode  *(Second round)*
5. Josh Rock  *(Second round)*
6. Rob Cross  *(Quarter-finals)*
7. Jonny Clayton  *(Second round)*
8. Michael van Gerwen  *(Semi-finals)*
9. Joe Cullen  *(Third round)*
10. Peter Wright  *(Runner-up)*
11. Michael Smith  *(Third round)*
12. Danny Noppert  *(Second round)*
13. Martin Schindler  *(Second round)*
14. Nathan Aspinall  *(Second round)*
15. Ryan Searle  *(Second round)*
16. Ross Smith  *(Third round)*
* Mickey Mansell  *(First round)*
* Chris Dobey  *(Second round)*
* Steve Lennon  *(Second round)*
* Jules van Dongen  *(Third round)*
* Vincent van der Voort  *(First round)*
* Jeff Smith  *(First round)*
* James Wade  *(Third round)*
* Danny Jansen  *(First round)*
* Martin Lukeman  *(Third round)*
* Scott Waites  *(First round)*
* Boris Krčmar  *(Second round)*
* Gian van Veen  *(Second round)*
* Stephen Bunting  *(Quarter-finals)*
* Ryan Joyce  *(First round)*
* Dylan Slevin  *(First round)*
* Alan Soutar  *(Second round)*
* Daryl Gurney  *(Second round)*
* Lee Evans  *(First round)*
* Florian Hempel  *(First round)*
* Madars Razma  *(First round)*
* Karel Sedláček  *(First round)*
* James Wilson  *(First round)*
* George Killington  *(Third round)*
* Arron Monk  *(Second round)*
* Darryl Pilgrim  *(Second round)*
* Jelle Klaasen  *(First round)*

**Highest Ranking Germans**
* Gabriel Clemens  *(Quarter-finals)*
* **Ricardo Pietreczko**  **(Champion)**

**Host Nation Qualifier**
* Marcus Kirchmann  *(First round)*
* Nico Kurz  *(Third round)*

**Nordic & Baltic Qualifier**
* Jeffrey de Graaf  *(First round)*

**East European Qualifier**
* Patrik Kovács  *(First round)*

## References

1. ↑ Van Gerwen battles back to win German Darts Championship (13 March 2022).
2. ↑ Perfect Pietreczko wins Interwetten German Darts Championship (15 October 2023).
3. ↑ Cazoo UK Open & European Tour prize fund increases announced.
4. ↑ PDC Order of Merit Rules | PDC.
5. ↑ PC19-21 entries, ET13 seeds & WSOD Finals Qualifier entries confirmed. PDC (31 August 2023).
6. ↑ 2023 Interwetten German Darts Championship draw & schedule. PDC (12 October 2023).