Shashveen A K triumphs at 23rd Adyar Times Rating Open 2025

by S Paul Arokia Raj - 18/10/2025

Shashveen A K, Hari Ganesh T, Lukesh A and Goutham Ramesh scored 7/8 each at 23rd Adyar Times Rating Open 2025. Shashveen won the tournament on tie-breaks. The remaining three secured second to fourth place respectively according to tie-breaks. The two-time defending champion, Hari got himself very close to scoring the hat-trick but he missed it. He managed to remain undefeated and won against the eventual champion, Shashveen in the penultimate round. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹250000. The top three prizes were ₹35000 + trophy, ₹25000 and ₹15000 each respectively. This is Shashveen's first rating tournament triumph of the year. Photos: IA FI S Paul Arokia Raj

Shashveen wins his first rating tournament of the year

While India has witnessed many renowned chess tournaments over the years, very few have stood the test of time. Adyar Times FIDE Rated Open Chess Tournament is the only event in the country to be organized continuously for 23 years. This remarkable milestone has been possible thanks to the unwavering commitment and support of exceptional individuals. The Adyar Times FIDE Rated Open Chess Tournament, organized by the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association and sponsored by the Adyar Times newspaper, has been held annually since 2000, except for a break in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 23rd edition of the tournament was held between October 2nd to 5th, 2025 in an elegant Indoor stadium of D B Jain College, Chennai. This made it currently the longest continuously running chess tournament in India.

Champion - Shashveen A K 7/8

As many as 384 participants representing four federations namely India, Malaysia, South Korea and USA and players drawn from nine Indian states thronged the tournament hall vying for the top honours.

School boy T Hari Ganesh who was trying for a hat-trick for the championship this year was maintaining a dream run till the penultimate round. However, his premature agreement for a draw with Sivan S Roshan in the eighth and the final round halted him at 7 points. This helped Shashveen to catch up Hari when he outwitted Kavin E in the crucial final round. Although Shashveen had scored six straight victories he met his waterloo in the seventh round at the hands of Hari but bounced back in the final round. In a four-way tie for the title Shashveen emerged as the winner. Along with winner’s purse of ₹35000, he lifted the glittering Adyar Times Trophy. Winner of last edition of Modern High School FIDE Rated Open 2024 and he was fourth in the National Schools Under-13 Open, 2025 in Peddapuram, Andhra Pradesh. This 13-year-old boy is a student of eighth standard in Sri Chaitanya Techno School, Pallavaram 2. He is trained by renowned chess trainer from Chennai S R Krishnan. T Hari Ganesh was the runner-up with a cash prize of ₹25000 and A Lukesh secured the creditable third place. The total prize fund for this year event was ₹250000.

Runner-up - Hari Ganesh T 7/8

Second Runner-up - Lukesh A 7/8

Here are a few games annotated by the winner Shashveen A K and runner-up, Hari Ganesh T.

The champion - Shashveek A K

Shashveen A K scored 7/8, won the tournament on tie-breaks and gained 48.4 Elo rating points

The four-day popular event was inaugurated by Dr. Sundar Chidambaram, Principal, D B Jain College, Chennai and India’s first International Master and nine-times national Champion. Mr. Manuel Aaron.

Inaugural first move by Dr. Sundar Chidambaram, Principal, D B Jain College, Chennai and India’s first International Master and nine-times national Champion. Mr. Manuel Aaron

In a glittering closing ceremony, Mr. Sanara Narayanan, I R S, Additional Commissioner of Customs, Chennai was the Chief Guest. Mr. J P Janakan, Managing Editor, Adyar Times was the Guest of Honour. He awarded the Adyar Times trophy to the champion in the presence of host of officials from the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association.

S P Janakan, Managing Editor, Adyar Times was the Guest of Honour

Chief Arbiter for all 23 editions of this event - IA S Paul Arokia Raj

Tournament Director and General Secretary - Mr. Stephen Balasamy

The tournament hall at Dhanraj Baid Jain College in Chennai, Tamil Nadu

A total of 369 players took part from all over the country, one from Malaysia, South Korea and USA. The four-day eight round Rating Open tournament was organized by Tamil Nadu State Chess Association at Dhanraj Baid Jain College in Chennai, Tamil Nadu from 2nd to 5th October 2025. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	Gr	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5	TB6
1	4		Shashveen A K	U14		17292CHE2025	IND	1983	Tamil Nadu	7	42	46	39	7	3
2	1		Hari Ganesh T	U18		10337CGL2025	IND	2127	Tamil Nadu	7	40	43,5	37	6	2
3	11		Lukesh A	U16		9656CHE2025	IND	1891	Tamil Nadu	7	39,5	43	37,5	6	2
4	10		Goutham Ramesh	U14		2399CHE2025	IND	1911	Tamil Nadu	7	37	40,5	35	7	3
5	5		Kavin E	U14		6584CHE2025	IND	1943	Tamil Nadu	6,5	42,5	46	35,5	6	3
6	8	AFM	Vakeesh S			3122CGL2025	IND	1920	Tamil Nadu	6,5	40	43	33,8	6	2
7	3		Sivan S Roshan			23673CHE2025	IND	2010	Tamil Nadu	6,5	39,5	43,5	34,3	5	1
8	14		Logesh Kumar R	U16		2962CHE2025	IND	1863	Tamil Nadu	6,5	38,5	42,5	33,5	5	2
9	17		Chandra Prakash S			17236CHE2025	IND	1848	Tamil Nadu	6,5	38,5	42,5	32,3	6	2
10	22		Sidharth P G			3545CHE2025	IND	1810	Tamil Nadu	6,5	38,5	41	31,3	6	2
11	7		Ragavan Samarth Rajesh	U14		USA	USA	1922	USA	6,5	37	41	32,8	6	3
12	2	IM	Ramnathan Balasubramaniam			48/CHE/LIFE	IND	2059	Tamil Nadu	6,5	37	41	32,3	6	3
13	6		Adharva P T	U14		6582SLM2025	IND	1925	Tamil Nadu	6,5	36,5	40,5	31,8	5	3
14	42		Krishav Nikesh N	U12		1524CGL2025	IND	1694	Tamil Nadu	6,5	35,5	39	29,5	6	3
15	9		Prajit Ravishankar	U16		9771CHE2025	IND	1919	Tamil Nadu	6,5	35	37,5	29,8	6	4
16	33		Pavan Anand S	U18		3717CHE2025	IND	1745	Tamil Nadu	6	40	43,5	30,8	5	2
17	15	AIM	Krithin Durai D	U14		11046CHE2025	IND	1855	Tamil Nadu	6	38,5	42,5	29,3	5	2
18	31	AFM	Praneeshwar Madhavan	U12		1265CGL2025	IND	1747	Tamil Nadu	6	38,5	42	28	6	3
19	12		Kiruthik Murugun M	U14		1285CGL2025	IND	1866	Tamil Nadu	6	38	42	30,5	4	1
20	64	AFM	Mohamed Thaariq R	U14		24402CHE2025	IND	1636	Tamil Nadu	6	37,5	41	28,8	5	2
21	23		Ram Kumar G M			11207KKI2025	IND	1806	Tamil Nadu	6	37	39	26	6	3
22	20		Kanishk S R	U14		2293CHE2025	IND	1832	Tamil Nadu	6	36,5	41	30,3	5	3
23	21		Prahalad Moola	U12		Other State - T	IND	1813	Telangana	6	36,5	40	28	5	3
24	36		Varchas Krishna Jayaraman	U10		3752CHE2025	IND	1736	Tamil Nadu	6	36,5	39,5	27,3	5	2
25	49		Pranav Mukunth P	U16		24269CHE2025	IND	1683	Tamil Nadu	6	36	40	28	5	4
26	26		Sriram Pandi S P	U16		3333CHE2025	IND	1802	Tamil Nadu	6	34,5	38,5	27,5	6	2
27	71	AFM	Saravanan Arun Kumar B			8519CHE2025	IND	1622	Tamil Nadu	6	34,5	37	25,5	6	4
28	43		Lakshanaa R	F18	w	2297TLR2025	IND	1694	Tamil Nadu	6	33,5	36,5	26	5	3
29	37		Sai Sree Rohit K	U14		1631CGL2025	IND	1730	Tamil Nadu	5,5	39,5	44	27,8	5	1
30	24		Shravan Sriram	U14		7914TLR2025	IND	1806	Tamil Nadu	5,5	39,5	43	27,3	4	3

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About the Author

Paul Arokia Raj is a Grade-A International Arbiter. He is one of the most reputed arbiters of India. He has officiated many top events. He is a former National Sub-Junior champion and his career high rating was 2205. He was also the coach of University of Madras for nearly 20 years. Best among his products is GM Sundararajan Kidambi. He is now working as Assistant Traffic Manager in Chennai Port Authority and he was All India Major Ports Chess Champion for nearly 20 years.

The report was edited by Shahid Ahmed