Dhanush Ragav N S is the outright winner of 1st Akshaya Institutions Rating Open 2025

by R Anantharam - 15/09/2025

Dhanush Ragav N S scored an unbeaten 8/9 to win 1st Akshaya Institutions Rating Open 2025. Five players - Sanjay S Pillai, Haridev S, Christy George, Ahaz E U and Jayanth Venkatesh scored 7.5/9. They secured second to sixth place according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹400001. The top three prizes were ₹50001 + trophy, ₹35000 and ₹25000 each respectively. The five-day nine round Swiss League Rating Open Tournament was organized by Miracle School of Chess, Coimbatore at Akshaya College of Engineering and Technology in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu from 20th to 24th August 2025. This is Dhanush's first rating tournament triumph of the year. Photo: IA R Anantharam

Dhanush's first rating tournament triumph of the year

Dhanush Ragav N S of Dindigul scored eight points to emerge outright winner at the Akshaya Institutions FIDE rated chess tournament, organized by Miracle School of Chess, Coimbatore. Dhanush collected ₹50001 rupees from a total prize pool of ₹400000.

Dhanush Ragav receives the champion trophy from Mr. T Subramaniyan, Chairman, Akshaya Institutions | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Dhanush Ragav N S scored an unbeaten 8/9, finished a half point ahead of the rest and gained 34.2 Elo rating points

Five players scored 7.5 points, making it a five way tie for the places from second to sixth. Sanjay S Pillai had the highest Buchholz score to be declared as runner-up and Tamil Nadu State Under-15 and Under-17 champion for the current year, S Haridev of Chennai was the second runner-up. Sanjay and Haridev received ₹35000 and ₹25000 respectively.

Sanjay S Pillai of Kerala had the highest Buchholz to become the runner up | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Haridev (left) drew with Sanjay in the final round to finish third and the latter claimed second place | Photo: IA R Anantharam

14-year-old Christy George of Kerala had a good tournament, beating Mani Bharathi of Coimbatore, the recent winner of the Sivakasi Chess Sparklers rating tournament, in the final round.

Christy George of Kerala finished fourth | Photo: IA R Anantharam

15-year-old top seed with a rating of 2240 had to be content with the fifth place, as his early loss in the third round pulled down his tie-break data.

Top seeded Ahaz E had to be content with the fifth place | Photo: IA R Anantharam

13-year-old boy Jayanth Venkatesh of Tamil Nadu performed a hat trick of wins in the final three rounds to earn a creditable sixth place.

Jeyanth Venkatesh was declared sixth because of his hat-trick of wins in the last three rounds | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Prize winners are getting younger and younger, a measure of the growing status of chess in Tamil Nadu and India. 12-year-old M Dharsh of Tamil Nadu scored four wins, four draws and a win in the final round, which made him the highest tie-break scorer among the seven points players.

12-year-old Dharsh M played well to finish seventh | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Barath L of Chennai matched Dharsh in both Buchholz data, but the SB value put him in the eighth place.

Barath L had a lower Sonneborn Berger value than Dharsh and was placed eighth | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Champion Dhanush drew with Haridev in the eighth round | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Sanjay S Pillai subdued his Kerala teammate and veteran Anilkumar O T | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Fourth placed Christy and fifth ranked Ahaz drew their penultimate round encounter | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Barath won against A L Palaniappan of TN | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Jayanth Venkatesh won against Raaghav Kabil in the final round | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Mr. T Subramaniyan, Chairman, Akshaya Institutions and Mr. Senthil Kumar, Director, National Highways, inaugurated the tournament | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Akshaya Institutions, Coimbatore

Established in 2009 by the esteemed Akshaya Charitable Trust, Akshaya Group of Institutions, comprising, engineering and arts and science stands as a beacon of excellence in education. With professionals boasting over 25+ years of industrial expertise at the helm, the college is committed to nurturing bright minds and future leaders.

Akshaya Institutions | Photo: IA R Anantharam

The college is rendering a voluntary service to sports in general and chess in particular and is planning to organize big level tournaments in the future. The college offers excellent facilities for chess tournaments and the specialty is the involvement of students and staff in big gathering, serving with a smiling face.

The huge auditorium is a perfect set up for chess tournaments with around thousand players | Photo: IA R Anantharam

A total of 288 players took part from various states all over the country, one from Canada and USA each. The five-day nine round Swiss League Rating Open Tournament was organized by Miracle School of Chess, Coimbatore at Akshaya College of Engineering and Technology in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu from 20th to 24th August 2025. The time control was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment.

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	Gr	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	5		Dhanush Ragav N S		4365DGL2025	IND	2031	TN	8	53,5	58	50,5	7
2	4		Sanjay S Pillai		NA	IND	2052	KL	7,5	52,5	56,5	45,5	6
3	3		Haridev S	U15	3718CHE2025	IND	2122	TN	7,5	52	56,5	45,5	6
4	24	AIM	Christy George	U15	NA	IND	1875	KL	7,5	50,5	55,5	43,8	7
5	1		Ahaz E U	U15	NA	IND	2240	KL	7,5	49,5	54,5	45,8	7
6	10	AIM	Jayanth Venkatesh	U15	2589CHE2025	IND	1934	TN	7,5	47,5	51,5	42,8	6
7	14		Dharsh M	U12	3875CGL2025	IND	1914	TN	7	49,5	53,5	40,5	5
8	17		Barath L		36983CHE2025	IND	1898	TN	7	49,5	53,5	39,5	6
9	7	FM	Anilkumar O.T.	S56	NA	IND	1969	KL	7	48	50,5	38,5	6
10	21		Ebin Benny		NA	IND	1889	KL	7	46	49,5	36,8	6
11	40		Mithun K	U15	8446NGP2025	IND	1804	TN	7	45,5	48,5	35	7
12	11		Darshan S	U15	6528RAN2025	IND	1934	TN	6,5	50	54,5	37,5	5
13	27		Lukesh A		9656CHE2025	IND	1838	TN	6,5	50	54	36,8	5
14	23		Kumar S.		24695CHE2025	IND	1876	TN	6,5	49	53	36,8	4
15	25		Sri Harinandan G	U15	3882CBE2025	IND	1871	TN_CBE	6,5	49	53	35,5	5
16	32		Kishore Prajith	U15	1302CBE2025	IND	1825	TN_CBE	6,5	48,5	52	35,3	6
17	39		Kesavamoorthy G	U15	1281CGL2025	IND	1807	TN	6,5	48,5	51,5	34,8	6
18	18		Iniyan K		10368CHE2025	IND	1898	TN	6,5	48	52	35,8	5
19	16		Prawin K		5800CBE2025	IND	1909	TN_CBE	6,5	47,5	52	36,3	6
20	22		Raaghav Kabil M		9777TNV2025	IND	1882	TN	6,5	47,5	51,5	35,3	6
21	2	FM	Prasannaa.S		11203TLR2025	IND	2178	TN	6,5	47,5	51,5	34,3	6
22	26		Logesh Kumar R		2962CHE2025	IND	1851	TN	6,5	47	51,5	35,5	5
23	33		Abhinav M B	U15	NA	IND	1817	KL	6,5	46	49,5	34	5
24	43		Meiyappan M	U15	3879CBE2025	IND	1796	TN_CBE	6,5	45	49,5	33,5	6
25	49		Rahul K		4092CBE2025	IND	1771	TN_CBE	6,5	44,5	48,5	32,5	5

Details

About the Author

Prof. Rathinam Anantharam is an A-grade international arbiter. Member of FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Chairman of Titles Commission in All India Chess Federation, Vice President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Chief Arbiter for six world championships, many Asian, International and National Championships. Nominated as one of the top seven arbiters in the world for the past hundred years by FIDE.

The report was edited by Shahid Ahmed