Upset galore in Round 1
The Kottayam Chess Academy is currently hosting its inaugural prestigious God's Own Country Grand Master Open Chess Tournament, a part of the KCA’s International Chess Festival 2025 and is taking place from April 30th to May 7th, 2025, at The Courtyard Banquet Hall, Kanjikuzhy, Kottayam. A total of 233 players are participating from 15 countries, including 16 Grandmasters, 12 International Masters and a Woman International Master. Karen Grigoryan of Armenia, with a rating of 2556 is the top seed, followed by Manuel Petrosyan also of Armenia. The Indian contingent is led by grandmaster and former Asian Junior champion Deepan Chakkravarthy of ICF.
International Master and 12th seeded, Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) lost to Yeshas H.
Three grandmasters Alexei Fedorov, Laxman R R and P Karthikeyan had to be content with half a point each against Adhrit Das Purkayastha, Jude Dorison Gnanaseelan (SRI) and Sinthia Sarkar.
Member of Parliament and Advocate - Francis George inaugurated the tournament in the presence of Guest of Honour - A K Verma, Head of Operations, All India Chess Federation, T J Suresh Kumar, Coach of the Indian team in many international tournaments, Rajesh Nattakom, Chairman, Arbiters’ Commission AICF, Gopakumar M S, IA, Councillor Fair Play Commission of FIDE.
Replay Round 1 games
Round 1 results
Standings after Round 1
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | Rp | n | w | we | w-we | K | rtg+/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | IM | Gochelashvili, David | RUS | 2227 | RUS | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 | 0,00 | 10 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 113 | Aron, S P | IND | 1814 | KER | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 | 0,00 | 40 | 0 | |||
| 3 | 226 | Arun, Kumar.B | IND | 1465 | KER | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 | 0,00 | 20 | 0 | |||
| 4 | 1 | GM | Grigoryan, Karen H. | ARM | 2556 | ARM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0,92 | 0,08 | 10 | 0,8 | ||
| 5 | 2 | GM | Petrosyan, Manuel | ARM | 2544 | ARM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0,92 | 0,08 | 10 | 0,8 | ||
| 6 | 3 | GM | Pantsulaia, Levan | GEO | 2532 | GEO | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0,92 | 0,08 | 10 | 0,8 | ||
| 7 | 4 | GM | Savchenko, Boris | RUS | 2459 | RUS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0,92 | 0,08 | 10 | 0,8 | ||
| 8 | 5 | GM | Sanikidze, Tornike | GEO | 2448 | GEO | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0,92 | 0,08 | 10 | 0,8 | ||
| 9 | 6 | IM | Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H. | IND | 2418 | TEL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0,92 | 0,08 | 10 | 0,8 | ||
| 10 | 7 | GM | Movsziszian, Karen | ARM | 2417 | ARM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0,92 | 0,08 | 10 | 0,8 | ||
| 11 | 9 | GM | Deepan, Chakkravarthy J. | IND | 2394 | ICF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0,92 | 0,08 | 10 | 0,8 | ||
| 12 | 10 | IM | Schekachikhin, Maksim | FID | 2370 | FIDE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0,92 | 0,08 | 10 | 0,8 | ||
| 13 | 11 | GM | Nguyen, Van Huy | VIE | 2363 | VIE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0,92 | 0,08 | 10 | 0,8 | ||
| 14 | 13 | GM | Dzhumaev, Marat | UZB | 2352 | UZB | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0,92 | 0,08 | 10 | 0,8 | ||
| 15 | 14 | IM | Nitin, S. | IND | 2331 | TN | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0,92 | 0,08 | 10 | 0,8 |
Round 3 pairings
| Bo. | No. | White | Typ | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Black | Typ | Rtg | Club/City | No. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | GM | Grigoryan, Karen H. | 2556 | ARM | 1 | 1 | Afreed, T Khan | 1921 | AP | 67 | ||||||
| 2 | 66 | WCM | Modipalli, Deekshitha | 1924 | TEL | 1 | 1 | GM | Petrosyan, Manuel | 2544 | ARM | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 3 | GM | Pantsulaia, Levan | 2532 | GEO | 1 | 1 | FM | Anilkumar, O.T. | 1912 | KER | 69 | |||||
| 4 | 70 | Nambiar, Vivek | 1908 | KAR | 1 | 1 | GM | Savchenko, Boris | 2459 | RUS | 4 | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | GM | Sanikidze, Tornike | 2448 | GEO | 1 | 1 | IM | Rahman, Yehya | 1896 | EGY | 75 | |||||
| 6 | 74 | Chavan, Nameet | 1901 | MAH | 1 | 1 | IM | Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H. | 2418 | TEL | 6 | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | GM | Movsziszian, Karen | 2417 | ARM | 1 | 1 | Krishay, Jain | 1891 | WB | 79 | ||||||
| 8 | 9 | GM | Deepan, Chakkravarthy J. | 2394 | ICF | 1 | 1 | Devnath, Bijesh | 1886 | KER | 81 | ||||||
| 9 | 80 | Patil, Divya | 1887 | MAH | 1 | 1 | IM | Schekachikhin, Maksim | 2370 | FIDE | 10 | ||||||
| 10 | 11 | GM | Nguyen, Van Huy | 2363 | VIE | 1 | 1 | Arush, A | 1874 | KER | 83 | ||||||
| 11 | 13 | GM | Dzhumaev, Marat | 2352 | UZB | 1 | 1 | Mann, Akbari | 1862 | GUJ | 87 | ||||||
| 12 | 82 | Savanth, Krishnan R | 1877 | KER | 1 | 1 | IM | Nitin, S. | 2331 | TN | 14 | ||||||
| 13 | 15 | IM | Rajesh, V A V | 2331 | TN | 1 | 1 | Pranav, Ganesh Prabhu | 1862 | TN | 89 | ||||||
| 14 | 84 | AGM | Mani, Bharathy | 1872 | TN | 1 | 1 | GM | Podolchenko, Evgeniy | 2307 | BLR | 18 | |||||
| 15 | 90 | Samaksh, Ashok | 1858 | KAR | 1 | 1 | GM | Manik, Mikulas | 2273 | SVK | 20 |
About the Author
Prof. Rathinam Anantharam is an A-grade international arbiter. Member of FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Chairman of Titles Commission in All India Chess Federation, Vice President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Chief Arbiter for six world championships, many Asian, International and National Championships. Nominated as one of the top seven arbiters in the world for the past hundred years by FIDE.
The report was edited by Shahid Ahmed
