13th National Amateur Chess Championship 2026: 6 new champions crowned

by R Anantharam - 03/03/2026

Five out of the six titles were won by Tamil Nadu players in the 13th National Amateur Chess Championships, organized by Ananthi Chess Academy, Madurai, and Viyugam Chess Academy, Hosur, at the Adhiyaman College of Engineering, Hosur, held from 25th February to 1st March. A total of 999 players from more than 20 states participated in the five-day, nine-round event. The championship was conducted under six categories – Under 2300, 2000, and 1700 rating for Open and Women. Check out this report to see all the details of the event. Photos: R Anantharam/Ananthi Chess Academy

6 new champions at the National Amateur Chess Championship

The tournament was inaugurated by Dr M. Manickam, President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association and Chairman, Sakthi Group of Companies and grandmaster Thej Kumar, Secretary, Karnataka State Chess Association, in the honourable presence of Shri DV Sundar, a former vice president of the World Chess Federation, FIDE.

Dr M. Manickam, President, TNSCA, inaugurated the tournament, together with GM Thej Kumar, Secretary, Karnataka SCA, in the presence of Shri DV Sundar, former Vice President FIDE and Sri P Stephen Balasamy, Gen. Secretary, TNSCA

All champions of the National Amateur championships 2026, with the chief guest Shri DP Anantha, Vice President, AICF, P. Pragadesh, Tournament Director, N Lokesh, Organising Secretary, VL Anandh Babu, Secretary CFPD, P Rajasekaran, Joint Secretary, TNSCA and R. Anantharam

Open - Below 1700

Muthuraman Kesavamoorthy of Tamil Nadu conceded a draw in the penultimate round to score 8.5 points to bag the under-1700 open championship. Kavish Saxena of Uttar Pradesh and U Balaram of Tamil Nadu were the first and second runners-up, respectively, as they had half a point less in their kitty.

Muthuraman Kesavamoorthy was the winner in the below 1700 open category

Muthuraman Kesavamoorthy of TN won against Jaikishan Jaiswal of U.P on the first board to win the below 1700 open title

Kavish Saxena of U.P. defeated K Rathish of TN

Final Ranking (Open - Below 1700)

Rk.	SNo	Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5	TB6
1	2	Muthuraman, Kesavamoorthy	IND	1698	Tamil Nadu	8,5	51,5	56	52	8	3
2	84	Kavish, Saxena	IND	1588	Uttar Pradesh	8	52	57	48,75	7	5
3	27	Balaram, U	IND	1648	Tamil Nadu	8	48,5	53,5	46,25	7	4
4	17	Boopesh, Kumar M	IND	1666	Tamil Nadu	7,5	49,5	53,5	42,75	7	5
5	55	Ashwin, Ravichandran	IND	1616	Tamil Nadu	7,5	48,5	51,5	39,5	7	4
6	72	Ammineni, Uday Kumar	IND	1597	Andhra Pradesh	7,5	47,5	52	41,75	7	3
7	48	Sanjith, P	IND	1623	Tamil Nadu	7,5	46	49,5	40,5	7	3
8	34	Rathish, R	IND	1640	Tamil Nadu	7	49	53	38,5	7	3
9	13	Jaikishan, Jaiswal	IND	1674	Uttar Pradesh	7	48,5	52	37,75	6	3
10	41	Radhesh,	IND	1631	Punjab	7	48	52	39,25	5	2

Details

Replay available games

Women - Below 1700

A Meha Arin of Tamil Nadu also had eight wins and one draw to win the Women below 1700 championship. J Shalini of Tamil Nadu and UA Disha of Karnataka had one point less to claim the second and third places, respectively.

A Meha Arin of Tamil Nadu was half a point short of nine to win the under 1700 category for women

A Meha Arin won the below 1700 Women title by beating Hunsika M of Puducherry

Final Ranking (Women - Below 1700)

Rk.	SNo	Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5	TB6
1	6	Meha, Arin A	w	IND	1631	Tamil Nadu	8,5	49,5	54	50,25	8	4
2	32	Shalini, J	w	IND	1527	Tamil Nadu	7,5	53,5	58	47	6	1
3	3	Disha, U A	w	IND	1672	Karnataka	7,5	49,5	54	43,25	7	2
4	7	Deepthaashri, Ravi Ganesh	w	IND	1624	Tamil Nadu	7	51	55,5	41,5	6	3
5	11	Harshika, M	w	IND	1602	Tamil Nadu	7	49,5	54	38	7	2
6	35	Haritha, R	w	IND	1518	Tamil Nadu	7	46	48	34,5	6	2
7	95	Lasyasree, Mattam	w	IND	1436	Andhra Pradesh	7	44	48	37,25	5	3
8	45	Dakshitha, Anand	w	IND	1495	Tamil Nadu	7	43,5	47	35,75	6	3
9	13	Hiranmayee, Kulkarni	w	IND	1590	Maharashtra	6,5	51	56	38,75	5	3
10	10	Sanchita, Yadav	w	IND	1619	Uttar Pradesh	6,5	50,5	56	40	4	1

Details

Replay available games

Open - Below 2000

In the 2000 open category, both Saravanan and R Gokula Vishnu from Tamil Nadu scored eight points to tie for the title, but Saravanan had a better Buchholz value to be declared the winner.

Saravanan of Tamil Nadu clinched the Below 2000 open title

Saravanan of Tamil Nadu had the better of Akhil Repalle of Telangana to get a better tiebreak score and the title

R Gokula Vishnu won against Pankaj Sharma of Punjab to tie for the title in the open 2000 category.

S Rutherford of Tamil Nadu defeated Akash Tiwari of West Bengal in the 2000 category

Final Ranking (Open - Below 2000)

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5	TB6
1	15		Saravanan,	IND	1893	Tamil Nadu	8	49	53	45,5	7	3
2	3		Gokula, Vishnu R	IND	1977	Tamil Nadu	8	48,5	52,5	45	7	4
3	16		Ebin, Benny	IND	1892	Kerala	7	50	54,5	40,75	5	3
4	46		Rajveer, Patil	IND	1817	Goa	7	50	51	37,25	5	2
5	6		Rutherford, S	IND	1964	Tamil Nadu	7	44	48	36,75	6	4
6	19		Raaghav, Kabil M	IND	1884	Tamil Nadu	6,5	46,5	50,5	32,75	5	2
7	45		Viaan, Samir Makhani	IND	1819	Gujarat	6,5	46	48	33	4	2
8	20		Avhad, Prajwal	IND	1883	Maharashtra	6,5	44,5	48,5	33,25	6	3
9	52		Shah, Mihir	IND	1801	Maharashtra	6,5	44,5	47,5	31,25	6	2
10	37	CM	Sharma, Pankaj	IND	1850	Punjab	6,5	42	45,5	30,75	6	2

Details

Replay available games

Women - Below 2000

In the Below 2000 category for women, Pavithra clinched the under 2000 category for women by scoring 7.5 points. Ratnapriya K and PL Kavitha, both from Tamil Nadu, finished behind Pavithra to secure second and third places, respectively.

RV Pavithra of Tamil Nadu is the champion in the Below 2000 women category

In the 1700 category for women, Pavithra won against S Pournami of Kerala on the top board

Final Ranking (Women - Below 2000)

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5	TB6
1	6		Pavithra, R V	w	IND	1815	Tamil Nadu	7,5	44	48,5	39,5	6	4
2	1		Ratnapriya, K	w	IND	1877	Tamil Nadu	6,5	47,5	51,5	36,5	5	3
3	12		Kavitha, P L	w	IND	1760	Tamil Nadu	6,5	43,5	47	32	6	3
4	2		Arpita, Patankar	w	IND	1851	Gujarat	6	47	51	32,5	3	1
5	5		Vakcheri, Mohitha	w	IND	1818	Andhra Pradesh	5,5	45	49	26	5	3
6	4	WCM	Pournami, S	w	IND	1843	Kerala	5,5	44	48	28,5	5	1
7	14		Kirtana, S P	w	IND	1740	Tamil Nadu	5,5	43	46,5	26	5	2
8	11		Sahana, S	w	IND	1762	Tamil Nadu	5,5	42,5	45,5	24,75	5	2
9	9		Charudharshini, R	w	IND	1792	Tamil Nadu	5,5	41	43	22,75	4	1
10	7	WCM	Kiyanna, Parihaar	w	IND	1800	Rajasthan	5,5	39	42	25	3	2

Details

Replay available games

Open - Below 2300

S Gokul Krishna had only one loss in the third round to score eight points to win the Below 2300 open title. Mahindrakar Indrajeet of Maharashtra collected 7.5 points to finish runner-up.

S Gokul Krishna of Tamil Nadu receives the trophy from Shri DP Anantha for winning the 2300 open category of the National Amateur Chess Championship

Gokul Krishna defeated Mokshith Pasupulety of Telangana in the final round

Tamil Nadu state Under 15 & 17 champion S Haridev drew with Gopal Krishna Maheshwari of U.P

Abhinav Anand of Karnataka got the better of Vijay Kumar of Bihar in the 2300 category

Indrajit Mahindrakar of Maharashtra beat Samuel Stephen of AP to claim the runner-up spot

Final Ranking (Open - Below 2300)

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5	TB6
1	7		Gokul, Krishna S	IND	2040	Tamil Nadu	8	46	50	44	8	3
2	3		Mahindrakar, Indrajeet	IND	2117	Maharashtra	7,5	45	49	40,5	7	2
3	24		Mokshith, Pasupulety	IND	1954	Telangana	7	46,5	50	36	7	3
4	17		Abhinav, Anand	IND	1986	Karnataka	7	44,5	48	36	6	2
5	2		Haridev, S	IND	2156	Tamil Nadu	6,5	46,5	50	33	6	3
6	12		Andalamala, Hemal Varshan	IND	2008	Andhra Pradesh	6,5	45	48	32	6	3
7	1	CM	Gokul, G	IND	2201	Tamil Nadu	6,5	41	44	30,75	6	2
8	22		Vidit, Sethi	IND	1964	Uttar Pradesh	6,5	40,5	44,5	31,75	4	1
9	16		Ayaan, Phutane	IND	1987	Karnataka	6,5	38	41	28	6	2
10	14	CM	Samuel, Stephen Noble S	IND	1993	Andhra Pradesh	6	50	53	31	5	2

Details

Replay available games

Women - Below 2300

The only other title, apart from Tamil Nadu players, went to B Kirthika of Telangana in the under-2300 championship for women. She scored seven points from nine games.

B Kirthika of Telangana is the only non-Tamil Nadu player to win the title (under 2300 for women)

In the final round, B Kirthika drew with Tanvi Borate of Maharashtra

Final Ranking (Women - Below 2300)

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5	TB6
1	7	WCM	Kirthika, B	w	IND	1802	Telangana	7	45,5	49	37,5	5	2
2	8	WCM	Pooja, Shree R	w	IND	1793	Tamil Nadu	6,5	45	48,5	33,25	5	1
3	1	WFM	Bala, Kannamma P	w	IND	2046	Tamil Nadu	6,5	44	48	32,75	6	2
4	17		Nakshatra, Gumudavelly	w	IND	1690	Karnataka	6,5	41	44	31	6	3
5	4		Krupha, S Ukkali	w	IND	1853	Karnataka	6	46	50	30	6	3
6	5		Anandhi, P	w	IND	1830	Karnataka	5	47	51,5	27,25	4	2
7	14		Borate, Tanvi	w	IND	1737	Maharashtra	5	44	48	23,25	4	0
8	12	WCM	Bhillva, Nilaya Kondari Eswara Krishna	w	IND	1751	Andhra Pradesh	5	44	46,5	22	5	3
9	10	WFM	Rajasurya, J.	w	IND	1762	Tamil Nadu	5	41	44	19,75	4	1
10	21		Giddal, Sharon Blessy	w	IND	1482	Andhra Pradesh	5	37,5	40	20	5	1

Details

Replay available games

Photo Gallery

Inauguration, with a dance performance

A view of the playing hall

Shri. P. Stephen Balasamy, General Secretary of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, was felicitated in the inaugural function for his outstanding contribution and service to the growth of chess in Tamil Nadu. Mr P. Pragadesh, the tournament director, welcomed the gathering, and Dr Manickam, Shri DV Sundar, and Shri B. Murugavel felicitated Shri Stephen.

P Stephen Balasamy, Secretary, Tamil Nadu SCA, was felicitated by Dr M. Manickam and Shri DV Sundar for his outstanding contribution to chess in Tamil Nadu

In a third round game between Tp. Dheeraj of Tamil Nadu and Samarth Bharanidharan of Karnataka, two hundred and forty moves were made and both still had eight pawns and all pieces, except two minor pieces each, on the board. It was not a dead drawn position, either. The arbiter had to interfere in the game to declare a draw, as both had made more than seventy five moves each, without pawn movement and piece capture.

240 moves and both had eight pawns on the board

Final position

Sri DP Anantha, Vice President, All India Chess Federation was the chief guest on the final day and the guests of honour were GM Thej Kumar, Secretary, Karnataka State Chess Association, R. Anantharam, vice president, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association and P. Rajasekaran, joint secretary, TNSCA, besides P. Pragadesh the Tournament Director and N Lokesh, the organizing secretary.

About the Author

Prof. Rathinam Anantharam is an A-grade international arbiter. Member of the FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Chairman of the Titles Commission in the All India Chess Federation, Vice President of the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Chief Arbiter for six world championships, many Asian, International, and National Championships.

Devansh Singh edited the report