Muhammad Ihsan wins 2nd Akshaya Institutions Below 1800 Rating Tournament 2025

by R Anantharam - 25/11/2025

Muhammad Ihsan and Balamurugan Senthilkumar scored 8/9 each at 2nd Akshaya Institutions Below 1800 Rating Tournament 2025. Ihsan won the tournament due to better tie-breaks, Balamurugan secured second place. Ihsan defeated the eventual runner-up, Balamurugan in the seventh round. Seven players scored 7.5/9 each. Out of them, Takkshanth Anand was placed third. The total prize fund was ₹400000. The top three prizes were ₹50000 + laptop, ₹35000 and ₹25000 each. The three-day nine round Below 1800 Rating tournament was organized by Akshaya Institutions and Miracle School of Chess, Coimbatore at Akshaya Institutions in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu from 7th to 9th November 2025. This is Ihsan's fourth overall, first tournament triumph of the year. Photo: IA R Anantharam

Ihsan's first rating tournament triumph of his career

17th seeded and 11-year-old Muhammed Ihsan of Kerala won the 2nd Akshaya Institutions Below 1800 Rating Tournament, held at the Akshaya Institutions, Coimbatore. Ihsan and Balamurugan Senthilkumar of Tamil Nadu scored eight points each, but the former was declared the winner, as he had a superior tie-break score.

Muhammed Ihsan receives the winner's cheque from Sri Thiagarajan, Correspondent, Akshaya Institutions | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Ihsan won ₹50000 and a brand-new laptop for winning the tournament. Balamurugan collected ₹35000 for his second place.

Muhammed Ishan scored seven successive wins and two draws. His opponent N Pavithra in the ninth round secured the ninth place | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Muhammad Ihsan scored an unbeaten 8/9, won the tournament on tie-breaks and gained 95.6 Elo rating points

Balamurugan Senthilkumar had eight wins and one loss to score eight points. He defeated S Pranav Dharshan in the final round.

Balamurugan Senthilkumar scored a victory over Pranav Dharshan to score eight points and finish as a runner-up | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Seven players scored 7.5 points and tied for places from third to ninth, among whom Takkshanth Anand had the highest Buchholz Cut 1 tie-break value, to be declared third. Though he lost to Balamurugan in the final round, he came back strongly, to beat Thamizh Amudhan in the ninth round to reach 7.5 points.

Takkshanth Anand (black) beat Meenakshi Sundaram in the seventh round | Photo: IA R Anantharam

13-year-old Yagneswar Reddy MVS of Andhra Pradesh drew with 11-year-old Thamizh Amudhan Y of Coimbatore. Yagneswar was ranked fourth.

Round 7: M V S Yagneswar Reddy (White) of Andhra Pradesh drew with youngster Thamizh Amudhan | Photo: IA R Anantharam

M Dharanidharan of PSNA Engineering College, Dindigul finished fifth, by beating Jan Hanno L J.

M Dharanidharan got the better of Jan Hunno LJ to finish fifth | Photo: IA R Anantharam

R Venkata Ramana defeated Saketh Kumar of Bihar and was placed sixth in the rank list.

Barath Raj Matchakalai registered a win over G Gnanasekar on the third board of the final round to collect 7.5 points and seventh place | Photo: IA R Anantharam

S Pranav Dharshan who was ranked tenth, drew with Muhammed Ihsan in the eighth round.

S Pranav Darshan (left) had the consolation of sharing the point with the eventual champion in the eighth round | Photo: IA R Anantharam

The fight between the eventual champion and the runner-up was in favour of the champion | Photo: IA R Anantharam

The special feature of the tournament is that two more laptops were awarded to rating category winners and five bicycles to unrated players of Coimbatore district – a unique feature.

Balamurugan, the runner-up defeated Takkshanth Anand in the eighth round | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	Gr	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	17		Muhammad Ihsan	U12		NA	IND	1697	KL	8	54	59	51,75	7
2	10	AIM	Balamurugan Senthilkumar			8888TRY2025	IND	1725	TN	8	53,5	58,5	50,5	8
3	35		Takkshanth Anand	U08		1291CGL2025	IND	1661	TN	7,5	49,5	52,5	41,25	7
4	27		Yagneswar Reddy M V S	U16		NA	IND	1677	AP	7,5	48,5	52,5	42,5	6
5	7		Dharanidharan M			23875VNR2025	IND	1745	TN	7,5	46,5	51	42	6
6	42		Venkat Ramana R			18062SLM2025	IND	1653	TN	7,5	46	50	41,25	7
7	6		Barath Raj Matchakalai			5806MDU2025	IND	1746	TN	7,5	46	49,5	41,5	7
8	41		Akash S	U16		NA	IND	1653	KL	7,5	44,5	48,5	39,25	7
9	83		Pavithra N	F16	w	5054CBE2025	IND	1580	TN_CBE	7,5	44,5	47,5	37,5	7
10	4		Pranav Dharshan S	U16		3883CBE2025	IND	1756	TN_CBE	7	50	54,5	40,25	6
11	20		Gnanasekar .G			24387CHE2025	IND	1693	TN	7	50	52	36,5	7
12	28		Manikandan J			12619CHE2025	IND	1670	TN	7	49,5	54	39	7
13	32		Shree Hari R V	U16		26328CBE2025	IND	1663	TN_CBE	7	48,5	53	41	5
14	14		Satheesh M			NA	IND	1700	KL	7	48	53,5	41	6
15	51		Shuruthi Arulmani	F16	w	3943CBE2025	IND	1634	TN_CBE	7	48	52,5	38,5	6
16	8		Meiyappan M	U16		3879CBE2025	IND	1733	TN_CBE	7	47,5	52	39	6
17	102		Manoj Sundarajan			59445SLM2025	IND	1546	TN	7	47	50,5	36	6
18	33		Haris N K			NA	IND	1661	KL	7	46,5	51	38,25	5
19	56		Shanmugasundaram G.			5539MDU2025	IND	1630	TN	7	45,5	48,5	34,75	6
20	44		Vishprajesh Anand	U10		1292CGL2025	IND	1649	TN	7	45	49,5	36,75	6
21	176		Ashkar M M			NA	IND	1484	KL	7	43	46	34,25	6
22	43		Vignesh G			24478DPI2025	IND	1650	TN	7	42,5	45,5	34,25	6
23	16		Dhanyashree R	F12	w	24455TUT2025	IND	1699	TN	7	42	45,5	34,75	6
24	13		Kirtana S P	AF18	w	9587CHE2025	IND	1701	TN	7	41	45	35,5	7
25	48		Aswin.P.G			NA	IND	1638	KL	7	40,5	42,5	32	7

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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