Abhijeet Gupta wins First Pune International GM Round Robin Event
Top seed Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta of India emerged champion with 7.5 points at the Pune International Grandmaster Round Robin Chess Tournament, Organised by Buddhibal Kreeda Trust and 'Powered' by The Habitat. International Master Aswath S finished runner-up with 7 points and, in the process, achieved his third and final Grandmaster norm to become India's 98th Grandmaster. IM Kushagra Mohan secured third place with 6.5 points, while Pune's FM Advik Agarwal earned his second International Master norm after finishing fourth with 5 points. Photos: IA/NI Vivek Sohani.
Aswath S becomes India's 98th GM; FM Advik Agarwal Scores his Second IM Norm
Beyond the cold squares of the cross-table, the tournament hall was a living, breathing theater of raw human emotion, fueled by the profound legacy of the late Mr. Prakash Kunte. It was a week where ceremonial first moves by special guests set off high-stakes battles, the live commentary captured every pulse-pounding twist in real time, and the board drama pushed India’s brightest talents to the absolute brink of history.
Day - 1
The tournament was officially inaugurated by Balraj Singh Ghai, owner of The Habitat, alongside Chief Organiser GM Abhijit Kunte and Buddhibal Kreeda Trust trustee WIM Mrunalini Kunte.
It was a day of massive upsets, headlined by Indian players stunning veteran Belarusian Grandmasters. IM Akshay Borgaonkar pulled off a spectacular queen sacrifice to checkmate GM Alexey Fedorov, while FM Advik Agrawal capitalised on an 18th-move blunder to win a piece and defeat GM Aleksej Aleksandrov.
Top seed GM Abhijeet Gupta, IM Aswath S, and FM Vaidyanathan Kannan all started their campaigns strongly by securing comfortable victories in their respective matches.
Day- 2
Dr. Ramnath Sonawane - Ex-Commissioner, Jalgaon, Kalyan & Dombivli Municipal Corporation, Ex-CEO, Nagpur Smart City Project, Ex-Secretary, Maharashtra Water Management Authority and also a PDCC Member opened the round with Mr. Shrikant Deshpande - Manager, Lokmanya Co-operative Bank, Pune.
Indian GM Abhijeet Gupta and 13-year-old American prodigy FM Vaidyanathan Kannan emerged as joint leaders after registering back-to-back victories. Playing the white pieces in a King's Indian Attack, Kannan exploited a positional error by Belarusian GM Alexey Fedorov, weathered a kingside attack, and forced a resignation on the 31st move.
Top seed Abhijeet Gupta secured his second consecutive win by systematically dismantling IM Aswath S's King's Indian Defense, launching a powerful assault on the 26th move to force a resignation.
Day - 3
11-year-old FM Advik Agrawal held 13-year-old American prodigy Kannan to a thrilling, hard-fought draw. Playing the Rauzer Variation of the Classical Sicilian, Advik gained an early advantage but later defended tenaciously in a roller-coaster endgame to secure the half-point. In another notable result, IM Nitish Belurkar stunned the field by holding top seed GM Abhijeet Gupta to a draw. Sri Lanka's IM L.M.S.T. De Silva registered the biggest upset of the day by defeating Belarusian GM Alexey Fedorov. GM Aleksej Aleksandrov of Belarus scored a comfortable victory over India's IM Akshay Borgaonkar. International Masters S. Aswath and Kushagra Mohan shared the point after a closely contested battle. At the end of Round 3, GM Abhijeet Gupta and USA's FM Vaidyanathan Kannan jointly lead the standings with 2.5 points each, occupying the first and second positions respectively on tiebreak.
Day - 4
The fourth round at The Fern Habitat delivered intense, high-stakes battle lines as top-seeded GM Abhijeet Gupta maintained his sole lead with 3 points after a hard-fought draw against Belarus GM Alexey Fedorov. Fedorov deployed an Old Indian Defense, but Gupta consistently kept structural pressure on the board and later even sacrificed a vital piece for two advanced pawns to hunt for a win. However, severe time trouble forced Gupta into a quick-tactics scramble, letting a decisive winning opportunity slip away into a peaceful split of the point. Meanwhile, the chasing pack tightened as local youngster FM Advik Agarwal (2.5 points) and USA’s FM Vaidyanathan Kannan (2.5 points) held onto the joint second and third spots. Advik fought to a draw against Sri Lanka's IM L.M.S.T. De Silva, while Kannan suffered a major setback, losing his match to Belarus GM Aleksej Aleksandrov. Elsewhere, IM Aswath S kept his Grandmaster norm dreams highly alive by scoring a vital full point over IM Nitish Belurkar, while the all-Indian encounter between IM Kushagra Mohan and IM Akshay Borgaonkar ended in a solid draw.
Day - 5
Top seed Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta maintained his clinical, sole lead at the top of the table by defeating FM Advik Agarwal to move to 4 points. However, the absolute headline of the session belonged to IM Aswath S, who caught veteran Belarusian GM Alexey Fedorov completely off guard with a highly creative, unconventional opening. While Fedorov fought back fiercely, he ultimately cracked under severe time pressure, allowing Aswath to capitalize on critical blunders, seal a memorable victory, and leap into sole second place with 3.5 points. Elsewhere, IM Kushagra Mohan defeated IM Nitish Belurkar, Belarus GM Aleksej Aleksandrov bested Sri Lanka's IM L.M.S.T. De Silva, and IM Akshay Borgaonkar scored a vital full point against USA's FM Vaidyanathan Kannan.
Nearly 75 people across city gathered together even though it was raining heavily - A huge Shout out to Pune Chess Hangouts for their Incredible work!
Day - 6
In the sixth round of the Pune International Grandmaster Round Robin Chess Tournament, India's top-seeded Abhijeet Gupta maintained his sole lead at the top of the points table with 5 points after defeating Belarus's Aleksandrov Aleksej using the London System opening. Following closely behind, fellow Indian players Ashwath S. and Kushagra Mohan hold the second and third positions respectively with 4 points each, both requiring 3 more wins to secure their Grandmaster (GM) norms. Meanwhile, in the individual round matches, Kushagra Mohan defeated America's Vaidyanathan Kannan, Belarus's Fedorov Alexei beat Nitish Belurkar, Sri Lanka's De Silva LMST defeated Akshay Borgaonkar, and the match between Ashwath S. and Advik Agrawal ended in a draw, keeping Agrawal (3 points) and Kannan (2.5 points) in contention for their International Master (IM) norms.
Day- 7
In the seventh round of the event, International Master Akshay Borgaonkar produced a massive upset by holding top seed Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta to a draw. Despite the draw, Gupta retained his position at the top of the leaderboard with 5.5 points. Meanwhile, young Indian talent Advik Agarwal stunned IM Nitish Belurkar in a marathon battle, seizing on Belurkar's blunders to climb to fourth place in the standings with 4 points. In other key results, IM Kushagra Mohan defeated Belarusian GM Fedorov Alexei to move into third place with 5 points, and Indian IM Aswath S. continued his fine run by defeating Belarusian GM Alexandrov Aleksej to maintain second place, also with 5 points. Additionally, Sri Lanka's L.M.S.T. De Silva scored a convincing victory over American FIDE Master Kannan Vaidyanathan.
Day- 8
Day - 9
Many Titled players from Pune joined the CBI Stream while Soumya acted as a wonderful host!
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