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A recap of Indian chess in 2025

03/01/2026 -

When we look back at Indian chess in 2025, what stands out is how consistent the progress felt. The signs were already there in 2024, but this year, the results kept coming consistently. Indian players made their mark in the world’s biggest tournaments. It was impressive to see great and consistent results month after month. There was always something to talk about! It was a year that felt alive, steady, and exciting for Indian chess. In this article, we revisit some of the most memorable wins and moments that made 2025 such a remarkable year for Indian chess.

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Ethan Vaz and Shubhi Gupta are National Junior Open and Girls 2025 Champions

03/01/2026 -

IM Ethan Vaz (Goa) and WFM Shubhi Gupta (UP) are 54th National Junior Open and 41st National Junior Girls 2025 champions. Ethan scored an unbeaten 10.5/11 and finished a whopping 1.5 points ahead of the competition. IM Mayank Chakraborty (ASM) scored 9/11 to secure second place. IM Vignesh Advaith Vemula (TEL) and IM Akshay Borgaonkar (MAH) scored 8.5/11 each. They secured third and fourth place respectively according to tie-breaks. Shubhi scored an unbeaten 9.5/11 and finished ahead of the rest. WFM Nivedita V C (TN) scored sole 9/11 to finish second. WCM Pratitee Bordoloi (KAR) claimed third place scoring 8.5/11. The total prize fund combining Open and Girls section was ₹1000000. The top three prizes in both Open and Girls sections were ₹100000, ₹72000 and ₹60000 along with a trophy each respectively. This was Ethan's first and Shubhi's second National Junior tournament triumph. Photo: IA Jayant Kumar Bhuyan

Vitaliy Bernadskiy dominates 3rd Vega de San Mateo Open 2025, Vignesh N R second

03/01/2026 -

GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (UKR) scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win 3rd Vega de San Mateo Rating Open 2025. He finished a half point ahead of the field. GM Vignesh N R scored sole 8/9 to secure second place. He also remained undefeated and finished 1.5 points ahead of the rest. The fifth round battle between Bernadskiy and Vignesh ended in a draw. GM Aleksa Stirkovic (SRB), IM Lennis Martinez Ramirez (CUB) and IM Roberto Carlos Gomes Ledo (CUB) scored 6.5/9 each. They secured third, fourth and fifth place respectively. The top three prizes were €2000, €1500 and €1000 along with a trophy each. The seven-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by Club de Ajedrez San Mateo at Vega de San Mateo Sociocultural Center in San Mateo, Spain from 6th to 12th  December 2025. Photo: Federación Canaria de Ajedrez

Prraneeth Vuppala convincingly clinches 6th Roma Citta Aperta Master 2025

03/01/2026 -

GM Prraneeth Vuppala scored an unbeaten 8/9 to win 6th Roma Citta Aperta Master (1800-2100) 2025. He finished a full point ahead of the rest. IM Ilia Martinovici (MDA) and IM Daniel Kopylov (GER) scored 7/9 each. They secured second and third place respectively. Shourya Bagdia scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win the Open B (1600-1800). He also finished a half point ahead of the competition. Eman P D scored 8/9 to secure second place. The total prize fund of the festival was €16430. The top three prizes in Master were €1200, €900 and €700 each, Open B - €500, €400 and €300. For Rapid and Blitz - €300 each was the first prize. Photos: Official site

Grand Prix events at Phoenix ChessBase India Chess Club!

02/01/2026 -

Phoenix ChessBase India Chess Club in Mumbai now hosts a year-long Grand Prix series, where the regular 4th Saturday monthly blitz tournaments, now award GP points to the top 10 finishers. After 11 cycles, the top 12 compete in a March 2026 Grand Prix Finale featuring higher cash rewards and a grand prize for the winner. The player with the highest total points is crowned Player of 2025-26, celebrating their consistency and strength in the club’s most competitive season yet. We are already six months into the Grand Prix events and have a leaderboard coming up! Read more about this and how you can be a part of it in this article. Photos: ChessBase India

FIDE Rating list January 2026: Arjun Erigaisi in World Top 10 in all three formats

02/01/2026 -

Arjun Erigaisi had a fantastic performance at FIDE World Rapid and Blitz 2025. His double Bronze at the most exciting event of the year made him World no.3 in Rapid and World no.7 in Blitz format. Currently, he is the sole Indian to be in World Top 10 in all three formats. R Praggnanandhaa dropped to World no.8 and the World Champion climbed up to World no.9. Nihal Sarin's President Cup triumph in Tashkent, Uzbekistan moved him up to World no.25. There are now six Indians in Top 30. Among the Women, four are still in Top 20. IM Vantika Agrawal and IM Savitha Shri B are the only two women among top ten Indians to have gained Elo rating points. There are still seven Indians among Top 100 Women. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Carlsen bests Abdusattorov in the Finals to clinch World Blitz 2025, Bronze for Arjun Erigaisi

02/01/2026 -

Magnus Carlsen (NOR) defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) 2.5-1.5 in the Finals to retain his World Blitz title. This was his ninth FIDE World Blitz crown, making it his overall 20th World title. Arjun Erigaisi topped Stage 1, also known as Swiss-League stage, scoring 15/19 and finishing a full point ahead of the rest. Arjun lost to Abdusattorov in the Semifinals by 0.5-2.5. Fabiano Caruana (USA) suffered 1-3 loss against the eventual champion, Carlsen. Thus, both Arjun and Caruana won a Bronze each. Arjun became only the second Indian after Vishy Anand to win a medal in both World Rapid and Blitz events of the same year. GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ) defeated GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) by 2.5-1.5 to clinch Gold in the Women's. Thus, she became FIDE World Blitz Women's champion for the third time. The reigning World Junior Girls Blitz 2025 champion, IM Eline Roebers (NED) lost to Anna in the Semifinals. Eline and GM Jiner Zhu (CHN) won a Bronze medal each. This marked Eline's impressive debut at the event as she was the only IM to win a medal at this year's World Blitz Rapid and Blitz events combining Open and Women. Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Diasmany Otero Acosta triumphs at Sakthi Group 38th Tamil Nadu IM-norm RR 2025, Ashwin Sairam third

02/01/2026 -

IM Diasmany Otero Acosta (CUB) scored 6.5/9 to win Sakthi Group 38th Tamil Nadu IM-norm Round-Robin 2025. He finished a half point ahead of the rest. GM Evgeniy Podolchenko and FM Ashwin Sairam scored 6/9 each. They were placed second and third respectively according to tie-breaks. The top three prizes were ₹45000, ₹27000 and ₹18000 each respectively. Check out the report by the tournament coordinator, IA FI S Paul Arokia Raj along with annotated games of Ashwin Sairam and Aadik Theophane Lenin, the players themselves. Photos: IA FI S Paul Arokia Raj

2nd Morde Foundation All India Open Rapid Rating Chess Tournament 2026 all set to take place in Manchar with a prize fund of 4,00,000

01/01/2026 -

The 2nd edition of the Morde Foundation All India Open is taking place at Manchar, Pune on 4th January 2026. It is a 1-day Rapid tournament with several strong players taking part - the total prize fund of the tournament is Rs. 4,00,000. In this article, we share all the information about the tournament and the amazing work done by the main organizer of the event, Mr. Harshal Morde. Find the registration link in the article if you want to be a part of this tournament!

Could you solve them?

01/01/2026 -

Did you enjoy our Christmas puzzles? They were computer-resistant, which meant you could not simply ask a chess engine to solve them for you. Today we bring you a first batch of solutions – and reveal for the first time the solution to the decades-old problem of a game starting 1.e4 and ending on move five with knight takes rook mate. The solutions to the remaining problems will appear shortly. Photo: ChessBase

Deepan Chakkravarthy Wins 5th Athens of East, Fedorov Alexei Second and Srihari L Third

31/12/2025 -

After fighting for 10 rounds and 8 days, the Athens of East Grandmaster tournament is finally over, and Deepan Chakkravarthy of ICF won the 5th Edition of the Athens of East Grandmaster Open Chess tournament, which concluded at Hotel Amika, Madurai. Deepan secured the first place with 8.5 points by drawing his final round against 2nd placed GM Alexei Fedorov of Belarus. He scored 7.5/10, and it was the same as 3rd placed IM Srihari L, but because of better Tie-Breaks, Fedorov secured the second place while Srihari L secured the third place. In the last round, IM L Srihari drew his game against GM Rohith Krishna, and Rohith secured 4th place. Though the top 8 boards all drew their games, most of the games were well fought to the end. The prizes were distributed by Shri Velmurugan, Regional Sports Manager, Shri Raja, District Sports Officer, Shri Arun Vallapan, Correspondent, Vallabha Vidyalaya CBSE School, Madurai, and in the presence of State and District Officials. Photo credit: IA Vijayaraghavan V/Ananthi Chess Academy.

Christmas Puzzles 7 – long and short

31/12/2025 -

Take a look at this relatively simple position. Can you figure out how White can win? And how many moves it will require to overcome Black's most resolute defence? You won't believe it. To relax we bring you the arguably easiest chess study ever composed, and other entertaining puzzles, many from the out-of-the-box legend Karl Fabel. Photo: ChessBase

Deepan Chakkravarthy Strikes Again, One Point Lead Going Into The Last Round at Athens Of The East

31/12/2025 -

Nine Rounds are completed at Athens Of The East 5th GM International Open Chess Tournament, and after 7 days of battles fought over the chessboard, it's Indian Grandmaster Deepan Chakkravarthy who is leading the event with 8/9 points, even after losing his first game. This comeback puts him in clear 1 point lead going into the last round. In round 9, Deepan Chakkravarthy maintained his lead after defeating GM L R Srihari. The result was quite unfortunate for Srihari, who fumbled placing his rook on e6 square and lost on time. A lot of play was still left on the board, with White maintaining a slight edge. For second place, it's a tie between GM Fedorov Alexei and IM Srihari Lwith 7/9 Points, and there are 9 players on 6.5/8 Points. In the last round on board 1, Deepan will be playing against Belarusian GM Fedorov Alexei for the title. A draw is enough for him to win the championship, but he will be eyeing another win to get that champion title in style. The 10th and final round starts at 10 am IST on 31st December. Photo credit: IA Vijayaraghavan V/Ananthi Chess Academy.

World Blitz 2025 Day 1: Magnus Carlsen drops the queen and loses on time against Arjun Erigaisi

30/12/2025 -

Arjun Erigaisi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) and Fabiano Caruana (USA) are the three leaders at 10/13 each after Round 13 of FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship 2025 Open. Arjun defeated the reigning World Blitz cochampion, Carlsen in Round 9 and then defeated the former World Rapid champion, Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB). Six players are trailing them by a half point. Then five Indians - GM Pranesh M, IM Goutham Krishna H, GM R Praggnanandhaa, GM Raunak Sadhwani and GM Naraynanan S L are at 9/13 each. Goutham is the only IM among the top 30 players at the moment. He had a fantastic day by defeating eight GMs. In the Women's event, the new FIDE World Under-20 Girls Blitz 2025 Gold medalist, IM Eline Roebers (NED) emerged sole leader 8.5/10. Round 14 Open and Round 11 Women starts tomorrow at 2 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Christmas Puzzles 6 – cover the board!

30/12/2025 -

In August 2019 I spent a week in France, at the training camp I had organized (together with ChessBase India) for young Indian super talents. Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik did the chess training, while I pestered the kids with logic puzzles. Most did not involve chess, but some did. Here are a couple for you. Photo: ChessBase

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