Six GM and IM-norm Tournaments in 20 days in Tamil Nadu Chess Festival

by R Anantharam - 17/12/2025

Ananthi Chess Academy presents 5th Athens of the East GM Tournament 2025 will take place from 24th to 31st December 2025 in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Category A is for players rated above 2000, Category B - Below 2000 and Category D - Below 1800. The total prize fund is ₹4800000. ₹2000000 for Category A, ₹1200000 for Category B and D each, ₹400000 for Blitz Rating Open. Free accommodation, lunch and chess set for all players. Apart from the cash prizes, there are eight cars, three bikes, 100 cycles and 50 clocks will be up for grabs. 16th Chennai GM Open will take place from 2nd to 9th January 2026. It offers a total prize fund of ₹2000000. After that 41st to 44th Tamil Nadu IM-norm Round Robin tournaments, all four will take place simultaneously. Check the article for all details. Photo: Tournament circular

Unbelievable! Eight – two GM norm and four simultaneous IM-norm tournaments will be held at Madurai and then at Chennai from 24th December 2025 to 15th January 2026.

Athens of the East 5th GM Tournament, Madurai from 24th to 30th December 2025 | Photo: Tournament Circular

16th Chennai GM Open will take place from 2nd to 9th January 2026 | Source: Tournament Circular

IA R Anantharam talks about the GM tournaments | Video: ChessBase India

Four Sakthi Group TN IM norm tournaments simultaneously from 10th to 15th January

Athens of the East 5th International GM Tournament, Madurai

An unprecedented happening in Tamil Nadu, not only in terms of the number of tournaments, but also in the form of prizes – eight cars, three bikes, one hundred cycles and fifty chess clocks in rating category tournaments besides 48 lacs rupees total prize money. All in one tournament, the astonishing Athens of the East GM International tournament at Madurai from 24th to 30th December.

Eight brand new cars besides 48 lacs rupees in the Athens of East tournament, Madurai

10 Grandmasters, 17 International Masters, besides one WGM and two WIMs have registered so far, for the Madurai tournament. Apart from India, players from Argentina, Belarus, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Peru. Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Turkmenistan, UAE and Vietnam have already confirmed their participation.

The reigning and defending champion, GM Srihari L R will be the third seed | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Among the entries received until now, IM Aronyak Ghosh, the only International Master having a rating above 2500 in India, is the top seed. When he won the same tournament in 2022, he was fifth seeded.

The top seed IM Aronyak Ghosh won the event in 2022 here and finished third in the Chennai Open held in January 2025

S Rohith Krishna who was recently conferred with the title of grandmaster is seeded third.

89th Grandmaster of India - S Rohith Krishna is the third seed | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

GM Alexei Federov (BLR) who won many IM norm tournaments in Tamil Nadu is a strong contender for the title.

GM Alexei Fedorov has won many IM-norm tournament in Tamil Nadu| Photo: IA R Anantharam

GM Alexei Federov who has won many IM-norm tournaments in Tamil Nadu is a strong contender for the title in Madurai. He receives a trophy from GM Shyam Sundar and WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy in the presence of P Stephen Balasamy, General Secretary, TNSCA.

The A category is to be held at Hotel Amika, near Madurai airport and the category (Below 2000, Below 1800) and Blitz tournaments will be organised at Vallaba Vidyalaya CBSE school. While the A category offers Rs. 20 lacs as the total cash prize, with a first prize of three lacs rupees. The two rating categories offer 12 lacs as the total prize and four cars, fifty cycles each. Four lacs rupees will be the prize money for the Blitz event, in addition to three bikes and 50 chess clocks.

All players with accommodation, lunch and chess sets. What else do you expect to participate? Join immediately.

Entry fee to be paid through ananthichessacademy.com or bookmychess.com

Tournament Director: P. Pragadesh BE., MBA 94427 76466

Players list

No.		Name	FideID	FED	RtgI
1	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	25072846	IND	2522
2	GM	Rohith, Krishna S	46617051	IND	2489
3	GM	Srihari, L R	46617116	IND	2472
4	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	4105109	RUS	2428
5	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.	5011132	IND	2426
6	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej	13500139	BLR	2409
7	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	13500465	BLR	2377
8	FM	John, Veny Akkarakaran	46665773	IND	2367
9	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy	13504134	BLR	2358
10		Arpan, Das (Jr)	25077155	IND	2350
11	IM	Nitin, S.	5018277	IND	2341
12	IM	Slizhevsky, Alexander	4152050	RUS	2338
13		Nithin, Babu	46615431	IND	2326
14	FM	Madhesh, Kumar S	25168649	IND	2324
15	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei	13800574	KGZ	2322
16	IM	Gochelashvili, David	4161203	RUS	2320
17	IM	Otero Acosta, Diasmany	3503186	CUB	2317
18	FM	Dhananjay, S	5092892	IND	2299
19	FM	Vaidyanathan, Kannan	30987245	USA	2295
20	FM	Ashwin, Sairam	45010030	IND	2284

Details

16th Chennai Open International GM Tournament for Sakthi Group Trophy

The 16th Chennai Open International GM norm Tournament for Sakthi Group Trophy is the only tournament other than Delhi Open for being organized for more than fifteen years. Apart from the foreign players participating in the Madurai tournament, players from Australia and Kenya will also take part in the tournament.

The tournament has attracted 14 Grandmasters and 19 International Masters, as on date. Grandmasters S Rohith Krishna and Srihari L R are the top two seeds in the tournament, followed by IM Mayank Chakraborty of Assam.

IM Mayank Chakraborty who won the Shirvan Open 2025, Azerbaijan recently, is the third seed | Photo: Azerbaijan Chess Federation

GM Boris Savchenko (RUS), who won the event in 2022 is the highest rated foreign player, among the contenders for the title.

GM Boris Savchenko, the highest rated among the foreign players, won this event in 2022 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

The Chennai Open carries a cash prize of 20 lacs rupees, with the winner getting four lacs. Prizes are also offered to different rating categories and unrated players.

Tournament Director: P. Stephen Balasamy, General Secretary, TNSCA

Phone: 044 2538 4477

Venue: Hotel Ramada, Egmore, Chennai

Entry fee can be paid through online portal, using the link

1. For Tamil Nadu players registration link

2. For Other State/Federation players registration link

3. Gform link

Players list

No.		Name	ID	FideID	FED	RtgI	Club/City
1	GM	Rohith, Krishna S	30682021	46617051	IND	2489	TN
2	GM	Srihari, L R	29062021	46617116	IND	2472	TN
3	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty	341322021	25659766	IND	2465	AS
4	GM	Savchenko, Boris	0	4147332	RUS	2464	RUS
5	IM	Ayush, Sharma	924012021	45010943	IND	2454	MP
6	GM	Nguyen, Duc Hoa	0	12401358	VIE	2432	VIE
7	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	0	4105109	RUS	2428	RUS
8	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.	998152021	5011132	IND	2426	TN
9	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej	0	13500139	BLR	2403	BLR
10	IM	Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh	996252021	5053196	IND	2399	MH
11	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	0	13500465	BLR	2375	BLR
12	GM	Nguyen, Van Huy	0	12401064	VIE	2363	VIE
13	IM	Kaustuv, Kundu	64622021	5056900	IND	2357	WB
14	GM	Podolchenko, Evgeniy	0	13504134	BLR	2341	BLR
15	IM	Slizhevsky, Alexander	0	4152050	RUS	2338	RUS
16	GM	Neelotpal, Das	2397962024	5003512	IND	2336	WB
17		Nithin, Babu	26602021	46615431	IND	2326	KL
18	IM	Tologon Tegin, Semetei	0	13800574	KGZ	2322	KGZ
19	IM	Oblitas, Carlomagno	0	3800156	PER	2321	PER
20	IM	Gochelashvili, David	0	4161203	RUS	2320	RUS

Details

Sakthi Group 41st to 44th Tamil Nadu IM Norm Round Robin Tournaments

Having completed 40 IM-norm tournaments, the Sakthi Group IM-norm tournaments has entered the fourth phase. The success of the unique series is revealed by the achievement of 23 IM-norms. Both Dr. M Manickam, President, TNSCA and Tamil Nadu State Chess Association are sharing the burden organizing all the tournament from 21st tournament until now, besides contributing a bulk in the earlier tournaments also.

The 31st to 35th series was Inaugurated Grandmaster R B Ramesh and Irudhayarajan S in the presence of WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy | Photo: IA R Anantharam

The 36th to 40th tournament series was inaugurated by Dr. M Manickam in the presence of Mr. D V Sundar, former Vice President, FIDE and Mr P Stephen Balasamy, General Secretary, TNSCA | Photo: IA R Anantharam

The unique feature of the phase 4 is the simultaneous conduct of the four tournaments at the same dates and venue. It offers plenty of opportunities for the IM-norm mongers (twelve from Tamil Nadu and eight from other states will be selected.

Winner of the 40th IM-norm tournament - IM Palencia (COL), with IM Rathanvel and Dr. M Manickam | Photo: IA R Anantharam

After the norm tournaments, all the foreign and many Indian players move on to the 16th Odisha International Open, commencing on 16th January, the prize fund of which is 45 lacs rupees.

GM Open: ₹2500000, Below 1900 and Below 1700: ₹900000 each and Blitz: ₹200000.

Contact: Er. Debabrata Bhatta, Secretary, AOCA, WhatsApp: +91-94370-93970 Email: odishachess@gmail.com

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