Top Seeded Rohith Krishna S is leading at 16th Chennai GM After 7 Rounds

by Devansh Singh - 06/01/2026

After completion of 7 rounds at The 16th Chennai Open International Grandmasters Chess Tournament 2026, Rohith Krishna S is leading the event with 6.5/7 Points going into the eighth round. In round 7, Rohith won a beautiful game against Belarusian GM Alexei Fedorov with the white pieces, destroying Fedorov's Benko Defence. Rohith is still unbeaten in the event, and he just had one draw against FM Jinam Jomon in round 5. For the second place right now its a 4-way tie between GM Srihari LR, who is unbeaten with 2 draws, GM Aleksandrov Aleksej, who is also unbeaten with 2 draws, IM Mayank Chakraborty, who suffered a loss in round 4, and CM Madhvendra Pratap Sharma, who also played 2 draws and increased his rating by 24 Points. Games of Round 8 will start at 10 am on 7th January. Photo Credit: Sivakasi Chess Club/S. Paul Arokia Raj

After a few upsets in Round 6, Round 7 also witnessed the same

2147 rated Banik Hrishikesh Kumar from West Bengal won his game against GM Deepan Chakkravarthy in round 6 with the white pieces. Deepan recently won Athens of the East Open event, and it was a big upset in round 6. CM Vandan Alankar Sawai also won his game against IM Saravana Krishnan P with white pieces. Vandan is increasing his rating by 69 points after 7 rounds.

In round 7, 2138-rated Avirat Chauhan from Maharashtra won against GM Boris Savchenko of Russia with white pieces. Avirat is increasing his rating by 50 points after 7 rounds of play. Aadik Theophane Lenin won his game against GM Nguyen Van Huy of Vietnam, and after this win, Aadik is increasing his rating by 65 points.

Banik Hrishikesh Kumar won his game against GM Deepan Chakkravarthy in round 6

CM Vandan Alankar Sawai won his game against IM Saravana Krishnan P in round 6

GM Nguyen Van Huy of Vietnam lost his game of round 6 against GM Rohith Krishna S

Rohith won a beautiful game against Belarusian GM Alexei Fedorov with the white pieces to take the sole lead

CM Madhvendra Pratap Sharma of Madhya Pradesh smoothly won his game against Banik Hrishikesh Kumar in round 7

Round 7 Games

Round 7 Results

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.	PGN
1	1	GM	Rohith, Krishna S	2489	Tamil Nadu	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2377	Belarus	11	PGN
2	9	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej	2409	Belarus	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Srihari, L R	2472	Tamil Nadu	2	PGN
3	3	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty	2468	Assam	5	1 - 0	5		Pradeep, Kumar R A	2195	Tamil Nadu	32	PGN
4	31	IM	Palencia Morales, Wilson Guillermo	2207	Colombia	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Nguyen, Duc Hoa	2416	Vietnam	8	PGN
5	34	IM	Elgabry, Mohsen	2177	Egypt	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.	2384	Telangana	10	PGN
6	21	CM	Madhvendra, Pratap Sharma	2284	Madhya Pradesh	5	1 - 0	5	AIM	Banik, Hrishikesh Kumar	2147	West Bengal	38	PGN
7	25		Arnav, Agrawal	2258	Uttar Pradesh	5	½ - ½	5	CM	Vandan, Alankar Sawai	2094	Delhi	48	PGN
8	40		Avirat, Chauhan	2138	Maharashtra	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Savchenko, Boris	2464	Russia	4	PGN
9	43		Jihan, Tejas Shah	2128	Gujarat	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	2428	Russia	6	PGN
10	45	CM	Aadik, Theophane Lenin	2113	Kerala	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Nguyen, Van Huy	2360	Vietnam	12	PGN

Details

Rank after Round 7

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	6,5	30	33,5	31	0	6	3	10	9,5
2	2	GM	Srihari, L R		IND	2472	Tamil Nadu	6	31	34,5	28,75	0	5	3	10	2,7
3	9	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej		BLR	2409	Belarus	6	29	31,5	25,75	0	5	2	10	6,5
4	3	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty		IND	2468	Assam	6	28	31,5	26	0	6	2	10	-0,5
5	21	CM	Madhvendra, Pratap Sharma		IND	2284	Madhya Pradesh	6	27	29,5	24,75	0	5	2	40	24,4
6	10	IM	Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.		IND	2384	Telangana	5,5	31	35	26,75	0	4	2	10	-2,9
7	19	FM	Dhananjay, S		IND	2299	Chhattisgarh	5,5	31	34	24,75	0	5	3	20	3,4
8	25		Arnav, Agrawal		IND	2258	Uttar Pradesh	5,5	30	33	24,75	0	4	2	40	36,4
9	11	GM	Fedorov, Alexei		BLR	2377	Belarus	5,5	30	32,5	23	0	5	2	10	2,3
10	34	IM	Elgabry, Mohsen		EGY	2177	Egypt	5,5	29,5	33	24,25	0	5	2	20	35,2

Details

Round 8 Pairings

Bo.	No.		White	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	Club/City	No.
1	2	GM	Srihari, L R	2472	Tamil Nadu	6		6½	GM	Rohith, Krishna S	2489	Tamil Nadu	1
2	9	GM	Aleksandrov, Aleksej	2409	Belarus	6		6	IM	Mayank, Chakraborty	2468	Assam	3
3	8	GM	Nguyen, Duc Hoa	2416	Vietnam	5½		6	CM	Madhvendra, Pratap Sharma	2284	Madhya Pradesh	21
4	10	IM	Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.	2384	Telangana	5½		5½	IM	Palencia Morales, Wilson Guillermo	2207	Colombia	31
5	11	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2377	Belarus	5½		5½	IM	Elgabry, Mohsen	2177	Egypt	34
6	19	FM	Dhananjay, S	2299	Chhattisgarh	5½		5½	WGM	Hoang, Thi Bao Tram	2175	Vietnam	35
7	48	CM	Vandan, Alankar Sawai	2094	Delhi	5½		5½		Bhoir, Paras Dilip	2276	Maharashtra	22
8	25		Arnav, Agrawal	2258	Uttar Pradesh	5½		5½		Avirat, Chauhan	2138	Maharashtra	40
9	45	CM	Aadik, Theophane Lenin	2113	Kerala	5½		5	IM	Ayush, Sharma	2454	Madhya Pradesh	5
10	6	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	2428	Russia	5		5		Abhishek, T M	2136	Kerala	41