Chola Chess GM & IM Norm Round Robin Tournament 2026 Begins in Chennai

by Devansh Singh - 19/06/2026

Chola Chess is back with its International Round Robin events! After the successful completion of the 1st Chola Chess Grandmaster Norm Round Robin tournament in February. This time, Chola Chess is organising IM and GM round robin events under the same roof. Talented youngsters and experienced veterans will face each other from 20th June to 28th June. On the 19th June, the lots were drawn, and the technical meeting happened at the venue. Check out a glimpse of it. Photo: Devansh Singh

9 Days of full Action in Chennai

We are here in Chennai for the 1st IM and 2nd GM Norm Round Robin Tournament. The stage is set, players are ready, and the pairings are out. The next 9 days will witness a great battle over the board and a huge fight for IM and GM norms.

IM Norm Round Robin Tournament will be held in the Polgar Room

The GM Norm Round Robin Tournament will be held in the Viswanathan Anand Room

A Quote from the legend

Do you know your Grandmasters??

In this video, you will see some bts before the event, the technical meeting, the draw of lots, and pairing for 1st round of the event

Madhvendra is here!

Chief Arbiter of GM tournament: IA Vasanth B H

It's all fun before the tournament starts

Arbiter's Team

Chess is everywhere!!

Pairings

IM Round Robin Pairings Round 1

GM Round Robin Pairings Round 1

Lineup

GM Norm (L to R): GM Mihail Nikitenko, GM Alexei Fedorov, IM G B Harshavardhan, IM Bala Chandra Prasad Dhulipalla, IM Antoine Bourne, IM Santhosh Parvathareddy Ajay, IM Kushagra Mohan, IM Shrivatri Anuj, IM Suresh Harsh, and GM Michal Krasenkow.

Participants of the GM Round Robin

IM Norm (L to R): GM Aleksej Aleksandrov, IM David Gochelashvili, IM L M S T De Silva, FM Kapil Aarit, FM Singh Arshpreet, FM Pratap Sharma Madhvendra, FM Kumar S Madhesh, FM Arun Daakshin, and FM K P Pranav. WIM Devindya Oshini Gunawardhana was on her flight and will catch up soon!