Srihari L R and Rohith Krishna share the lead with Aleksandrov and Duc Hoa at 16th Chennai GM

by Devansh Singh - 09/01/2026

The 16th Chennai Open International Grandmasters Chess Tournament 2026 has reached its final day. Round 9, which concluded on January 8, 2026, has brought the battle for the Sakthi Group Dr. N. Mahalingam Trophy to a photo finish. With four players tied at 7.5 points, the math is simple: a win almost guarantees a share of the first-place, while a draw will leave the title to the tie-breaks. On board 1 in 9th round GM Rohith Krishna S and GM Aleksandrov Aleksej played a draw and both of them are on 7.5/9 now while on board 2 GM Srihari LR won against Dhananjay S to catch the leaders and he is co leading with 7.5/9 points and on board 3 we saw GM Nguyen Duc Hoa of Vietnam winning against Vandan Alankar Sawai to reach 7.5/9 points. In the last round, Rohith Krishna S will be playing against Nguyen Duc Hoa, while Srihari LR will be taking on IM Mayank Chakraborty, and Aleksandrov Aleksej will play against Indian GM Deepan Chakkravarthy. The final round, Round 10, takes place today, January 9. Photo Credit: IA S. Paul Arokia Raj

Final Round with 4 players on 7.5

GM Nguyen Duc Hoa of Vietnam, GM Rohith Krishna S of India, GM Aleksandrov Aleksej of Belarus and GM Srihari LR of India are tied for first place before the last round. The first Prize of the event is ₹4,00,000, the second prize is ₹3,00,000, and the third prize is ₹1,75,000. The players will give their best to get a podium finish.

Chairman, Sakthi Group, and President TNSCA were the guests of honour today

GM Nguyen Duc Hoa of Vietnam won against Vandan Alankar Sawai

Deepan won his game against Agnivo Charaborty

GM Rohith Krishna S and GM Aleksandrov Aleksej : (0.5-0.5)

Rank after Round9

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	TB6	K	rtg+/-
1	1	GM	Rohith, Krishna S		IND	2489	Tamil Nadu	7,5	54	58	47,25	0	6	3	10	8,2
2	2	GM	Srihari, L R		IND	2472	Tamil Nadu	7,5	51	56	45	0	6	3	10	5,6
3	9	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej		BLR	2409	Belarus	7,5	50,5	53	42	0	6	2	10	13,4
4	8	GM	Nguyen, Duc Hoa		VIE	2416	Vietnam	7,5	47,5	52,5	43,5	0	6	3	10	0,0
5	25		Arnav, Agrawal		IND	2258	Uttar Pradesh	7	50,5	54,5	41,25	0	5	3	40	40,4
6	11	GM	Fedorov, Alexei		BLR	2377	Belarus	7	50	53,5	38,75	0	6	2	10	2,5
7	3	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty		IND	2468	Assam	7	47,5	51,5	38	0	7	2	10	-5,1
8	31	IM	Palencia Morales, Wilson Guillermo		COL	2207	Colombia	7	46,5	51	38,25	0	6	3	20	24,8
9	27	GM	Manik, Mikulas		SVK	2251	Slovakia	7	45,5	50,5	39,5	0	5	2	10	-4,3
10	7	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		IND	2426	ICF	7	44,5	48	36,5	0	6	2	10	-9,9

Details

Round 10 Pairings

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	8	GM	Nguyen, Duc Hoa	2416	Vietnam	7½		7½	GM	Rohith, Krishna S	2489	Tamil Nadu	1
2	3	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty	2468	Assam	7		7½	GM	Srihari, L R	2472	Tamil Nadu	2
3	9	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej	2409	Belarus	7½		7	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.	2426	ICF	7
4	11	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2377	Belarus	7		7	GM	Manik, Mikulas	2251	Slovakia	27
5	25		Arnav, Agrawal	2258	Uttar Pradesh	7		7	IM	Palencia Morales, Wilson Guillermo	2207	Colombia	31
6	30	FM	Navalgund, Niranjan	2208	Karnataka	6½		6½	IM	Ayush, Sharma	2454	Madhya Pradesh	5
7	6	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	2428	Russia	6½		6½	CM	Madhvendra, Pratap Sharma	2284	Madhya Pradesh	21
8	12	GM	Nguyen, Van Huy	2360	Vietnam	6½		6½	IM	Claverie, Raul	2185	Argentina	33
9	36		Challa, Saharsha	2165	Telangana	6½		6½	IM	Slizhevsky, Alexander	2338	Russia	15
10	16	FM	Jinan, Jomon	2323	Kerala	6½		6½	CM	Aadik, Theophane Lenin	2113	Kerala	45