Aylore Hari Suryanarayana scored an unbeaten 8/9 points to win the RCA below 1800 Classical Rating Chess Tournament 2026. Aylore Hari, Siddharth Pernati, and Johney Mandal all scored 8/9 points to finish in the top 3 places according to tiebreak scores. The tournament was organised at the Hall of Chess, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai, from 17th to 19th July 2026 by Rajam Chess Academy. The total prize fund was ₹2,00,000, with top 3 prizes of ₹25,000, ₹15,000 and ₹12,500 along with trophies. Photos: WFM M.R. Sangeetha

IM Srihari L R scored an unbeaten 8.5/10 to win 14th Chennai GM Open 2023. He finished a half point ahead of the competition. Four players - GM Duc Hoa Nguyen (VIE), Aakash G, GM Boris Savchenko and GM Evgeniy Podolchenko scored 8/10 each. They secured second to fifth place respectively according to tie-breaks. 13-year-old Aakash delivered a stellar performance. He is the sole untitled finisher among top ten. The teenager's performance earned him 188.4 Elo rating points. GM Laxman R R is the only other Indian to make a top ten finish. He scored 7.5/10 to finish seventh. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹2000000. The top three prizes were ₹400000 + trophy, ₹300000 and ₹175000 each. This was Srihari's six overall, third Classical rating tournament triumph in 2023. Photos: Tamil Nadu State Chess Association

In a previous article, it was covered on how India's 61st GM from Erode, P Iniyan, held a fundraiser event where he would play against everyone who donated a minimum of Rs.150. The 17-year-old played out a 72-hour-marathon online chess against 271 opponents from 10 different countries, donating Rs.121,199 to the COVID 19 cause towards Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's and PM CARES fund. The fundraiser, in view of various time zones across the globe, began at 2.30pm IST on Friday 15th May, 2020 and concluded by 18th May afternoon. This event not only gave an opportunity for chess enthusiasts to play against a Grandmaster by just staying at their home, but also helped them to contribute to a cause!