S Rutherford wins 1st Annai Arul Public School Rating Open 2025

by Shahid Ahmed - 21/06/2025

S Rutherford, Umashankar A and Hiren K G scored 8/9 each at 1st Annai Arul Public School Rating Open 2025. Rutherford won the tournament due to better tie-break score, Umashankar and Hiren were placed second and third respectively. Rutherford drew with the eventual runner-up, Umashankar in Round 7 and defeated the second runner-up, Hiren in Round 6. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹500000. The top three prizes were ₹50000 + trophy, ₹40000 and ₹30000 each. The five-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by Annai Arul Public School, Chennai in Tamil Nadu from 21st to 25th May 2025. This was Rutherford's fourth overall, first rating tournament triumph of the year. Photo: Jagan V

Top three score 8/9

S Rutherford and Umashankar A were coleaders 7.5/8, going into the final round. Ajjesh J R drew with Rutherford and the latter became champion. Sparsh Khandelwal shared the point with Umashankar who secured second place. P Kavishvaran lost to Hiren K G, he finished third. Revered GM Laxman R R gave away the prizes at the prize distribution ceremony.

Champion - S Rutherford 8/9 | Photo: Jagan V

Runner-up - Umashankar A 8/9 | Photo: Jagan V

4th FM Ayushh Ravikumar 7.5/9 | Photo: Jagan V

5th Sparsh Khandelwal 7.5/9 | Photo: Jagan V

6th Ajjesh J R 7.5/9 | Photo: Jagan V

7th Vijay Shreeram P 7.5/9 | Photo: Jagan V

8th FM M Vinoth Kumar 7.5/9 | Photo: Jagan V

S Rutherford scored an unbeaten 8/9, won the tournament on tie-breaks and gained 39.6 Elo rating points

Trophies for the prize winners | Photo: Jagan V

Arbiters team with GM Laxman R R | Photo: Jagan V

A total of 433 players including an IM took part from all over the country, one from Germany and South Korea each. The five-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by Annai Arul Public School, Chennai in Tamil Nadu from 21st to 25th May 2025. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	10	AGM	Rutherford, S		1920	Tamil Nadu	8	53	56,5	48,75	7
2	8		Umashankar, A		1944	Puducherry	8	52,5	55	47,25	7
3	4		Hiren, K G		1988	Tamil Nadu	8	51	55	47,00	8
4	3	FM	Ayushh, Ravikumar		2017	Tamil Nadu	7,5	52	55,5	44,50	7
5	5	AGM	Sparsh, Khandelwal		1980	Chhattisgarh	7,5	51,5	55,5	45,00	6
6	6		Ajjesh, J R	U18	1978	Tamil Nadu	7,5	50,5	53,5	43,50	7
7	1		Vijay, Shreeram P		2158	Tamil Nadu	7,5	48,5	52,5	43,50	7
8	9	FM	Vinoth Kumar, M.		1933	Tamil Nadu	7,5	47,5	51,5	42,25	6
9	12	AFM	Meiyazhagan, Kaviinayan	U10	1887	South Korea	7,5	47	52	43,25	7
10	22		Mithiran, A	U18	1792	Tamil Nadu	7	50,5	55,5	41,75	6
11	26		Kavishvaran, P	U18	1766	Tamil Nadu	7	49,5	54	39,75	6
12	7		Ram, Alagappan S		1947	Tamil Nadu	7	48	52,5	39,75	5
13	2	IM	Ramnathan, Balasubramaniam		2031	Tamil Nadu	7	47	50,5	37,50	7
14	45		Mogneeshwar, J K U	U18	1677	Tamil Nadu	7	46,5	50,5	35,00	7
15	94		Surya, Suresh	U18	1549	Puducherry	7	46	49,5	36,00	7
16	24	AIM	Bharathan, D	U18	1784	Tamil Nadu	7	46	47,5	34,75	6
17	11		Kanishkaraj, V	U18	1889	Tamil Nadu	7	45	46,5	34,00	6
18	79		Karthick, Raja P	U14	1578	Tamil Nadu	7	44	47	34,00	7
19	74	AFM	Praneeshwar, Madhavan	U12	1588	Tamil Nadu	7	41,5	45	34,50	7
20	78	ACM	Bhargav, Karthikeyan	U18	1580	Tamil Nadu	7	41,5	45	33,50	7
21	13		Ram, Kumar G M		1877	Tamil Nadu	6,5	52,5	55,5	36,75	6
22	18		Aravindh, S	U18	1831	Tamil Nadu	6,5	51	55	37,00	6
23	40		Vinoo, Varshan N	U18	1689	Tamil Nadu	6,5	50	54	35,75	6
24	34		Saicharan, Srinivasan	U10	1705	Tamil Nadu	6,5	49,5	51	32,75	6
25	46		Akshay, Viswanathan		1666	Tamil Nadu	6,5	49	52,5	35,25	6
26	36		Thirumalaivasan, R	U14	1699	Tamil Nadu	6,5	49	52	35,00	5
27	59		Anirudh, Subramanian	U18	1637	Maharashtra	6,5	49	52	33,75	5
28	39		Siva, Balan G	U18	1691	Tamil Nadu	6,5	48,5	53	34,50	6
29	63		Rishiraj, P	U18	1617	Tamil Nadu	6,5	48	52,5	34,25	6
30	16		Kishore, V		1847	Tamil Nadu	6,5	48	51,5	34,50	6