Tamil Nadu wins five categories at National Amateur
Tamil Nadu Dominates the 13th National Amateur Chess Championships 2026.
The 13th National Amateur Chess Championships 2026 concluded successfully at the Adhiyaman College of Engineering in Hosur, held from 25th February to 1st March 2026. The event was organised by Ananthi Chess Academy, Madurai and Viyugam Chess Academy, Hosur, with wide participation from players across the country.
A total of 999 players from more than 20 states competed in this five-day, nine-round championship featuring six categories — Under 2300, 2000 and 1700 rating divisions for both Open and Women.
Tamil Nadu players won five of the six titles, underscoring the state’s strength in amateur chess.
Dr. M. Manickam, President Tamil Nadu State CHess Association inaugurated the 13th National Amateur Chess Championships
The championship was inaugurated by Dr. M. Manickam (President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association) in the presence of Shri D.V. Sundar, former Vice-President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE).
S Gokul Krishna had only one loss in the third round to score eight points to win the under 2300 open title. Mahindrakar Indrajeet of Maharashtra collected 7.5 points to finish runner up. After Kirthika, R Pooja Shree and P Bala Kannamma of Tamil Nadu and Nakshatra G of Karnataka had 6.5 points each to their credit to finish second to fourth respectively. The only other title went to B Kirthika of Telangana in the under 2300 championship for below 2300 women.
In the 2000 open category, both Saravanan and R Gokula Vishnu from Tamil Nadu scored eight points to tie for the tile, but Gokula had a better Buchholz value to be declared winner. In the same category for women, Pavitha clinched the under 2000 category for women by scoring 7.5 points. Ratnapriya K and PL Kavitha both from Tamil Nadu finished behind Pavithra to secure second and third places respectively.
Muthuraman Kesavamoorthy of Tamil Nadu conceded a draw in the penultimate round to score 8.5 points to bag the under 1700 open championship. Kavish Saxena of Uttar Pradesh and U Balaram of Tamil Nadu were the first and second runners up respectively, as they had half a point less in their kitty. A Meha Arin of Tamil Nadu also had eight wins and one draw to win the women championship. J Shalini of Tamil Nadu and UA Disha of Karnataka had one point less to claim the second and third places respectively.
Sri DP Anantha, Vice President, All India Chess Federation was the chief guest in presence of GM Thej Kumar (Secretary, Karnataka State Chess Association), on the final day and the guests of honour were R. Anantharam, Vice President, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, VL Anandh Babu, Secretary, CFPD and P. Rajasekaran, joint secretary, TNSCA, besides P. Pragadesh the Tournament Director and N Lokesh, the organizing secretary.
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