Mohammed Fasal V U dominates KCA God’s Own Country’s 1st Category B Below 1650 Rating 2025

by R Anantharam - 28/05/2025

Mohammed Fasal V U scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win KCA's God's Own Country's 1st Below 1650 Rating Tournament 2025. He finished a half point ahead of the rest. M Appas scored sole 8/9 to secure second place. He also remained undefeated. Half a dozen players scored 7.5/9. Out of them, Prathmesh Dharmadhikari was placed third due to better tie-break scores. Fasal defeated his coleader Prathmesh to become the champion. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹1000000 in Category B. The top three prizes were ₹100000, ₹75000 and ₹50000. The three-day nine round Below 1650 tournament was organized by Kottayam Chess Academy from 1st to 3rd May 2025 at Aithousa Convention Centre in Kottayam, Kerala. This is Fazal's first rating tournament triumph of the year. The last rating tournament he won was in August 2012. Photo: IA R Anantharam

Fazal's first rating tournament triumph in over 12.5 years

V U Mohammed Fasal of Kerala won the Category B of the KCA’s 1st International Chess Festival for players below the rating of 1650, organised by Kottayam Chess Academy, at Aithousa Centre, Kottayam from 1st to 3rd May 2025. Mohammed gave away only half a point in the nine round tournament, to remain unbeaten and collected ₹100000 as the first prize. The second place also needed no tie-break, with M Appas of Tamil Nadu scoring eight points to win a purse of ₹70000. Prathmesh Dharmathikari, who led throughout the tournament failed in the final hurdle against Mohammed to stand third.

The champion Mohammed Fazal 8.5/9 with the guest - M S Gopakumar, IA, Councillor Fair Play Commission, FIDE, and R Rajesh, Chairman, Arbiters Commission AICF | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Runner-up - M Appas 8/9 receives the prize from R Rajesh, Tournament Director | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Second Runner-up - Prathmesh Dharmadhikari 7.5/9 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

In the final round, Mohammed Fazal overcame the stiff resistance from Prathmesh to clinch the game and also the title with 8.5 points. As Appas defeated Shaik Abdul Nabi of AP to claim the runner-up spot with eight points, Prathmesh had to be content with the third place.

Champion - Mohammed Fazal (behind left) defeated Prathmesh Dharmadhikari in the final round and Appas (front left) also emerged victorious | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Six players scored 7.5 points each, to tie for the third to eighth places. After Prathmesh, Shane Joseph of Kerala had the best supporting score to secure the fourth rank.

4th Shane Joseph 7.5/9 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Shane Joseph (right) drew with Mathai Bince of Kerala in the final round. Mathai got the sixth position | Photo: IA R Anantharam

6th Mathai Bince 7.5/9 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Though Saurabh Somvanshi of UP lost to the eventual champion, Mohammed Fazal in the eighth round, he defeated Karthick Balu of Tamil Nadu in the final round to get the fifth position.

Saurabh Somvanshi of UP lost to Mohammed Fazal in the eighth round. Saurabh secured the fifth position | Photo: IA R Anantharam

5th Saurabh Somvanshi 7.5/9 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Many children had a fine performance in the tournament. Nine-year-old Vedhik Vishwanath of Kerala performed very well to increase his rating by 72 points. He outwitted his state mate J S Mahadev to get the seventh rank.

7th Vedhik Vishwanath 7.5/9 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

13-year-old and eighth placed R Devegk of Kerala had a rise in his rating by 103.2 points.

8th R Devegk 7.5/9 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

11-year-old and top seed Muhamad Ihsan of Kerala met with a loss in the third round, which pushed him to ninth place. He defeated S Varada in the sixth round.

Top seed - Muhamad Ihsan could muster only the ninth place – in the picture against Varada in Round 6 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Like Ihsan, Arjun S Anil of Kerala also scored seven points and achieved the tenth rank.

Round 6: J S Mahadev - Arjun S Anil: 0-1 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Arbiters' team | Photo: IA R Anantharam

The tournament hall at Aithousa Convention Centre in Kottayam, Kerala | Photo: IA R Anantharam

A total of 421 players took part from various parts of India and two from Sri Lanka. The three-day nine round Below 1650 tournament was organized by Kottayam Chess Academy from 1st to 3rd May 2025 at Aithousa Convention Centre in Kottayam, Kerala. The time control of the event was 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5	TB6	Rp
1	39		Mohammed Fasal, V U		IND	1599	KER	8,5	49	52	49,25	8	3	1992
2	35		Appas, M		IND	1607	TN	8	47,5	50,5	44,00	7	2	1905
3	7		Prathmesh, Dharmadhikari		IND	1637	MAH	7,5	52	55,5	43,00	7	4	1834
4	53		Shane, Joseph		IND	1588	KER	7,5	51	55,5	46,00	6	2	1760
5	81		Saurabh, Somvanshi		IND	1567	UP	7,5	49	53	42,50	7	3	1817
6	95		Mathai, Bince	U15	IND	1558	KER	7,5	48,5	52	40,75	7	3	1842
7	14		Vedhik, Viswanath	U09	IND	1630	KER	7,5	47,5	50,5	40,25	7	3	1804
8	109	AFM	Devegk, R	U13	IND	1545	KER	7,5	44	47	37,50	6	3	1832
9	1		Muhammad, Ihsan	U11	IND	1648	KER	7	50	54	40,25	6	3	1772
10	68		Arjun, S Anil	U17	IND	1575	KER	7	49	51	36,25	6	3	1765
11	125		Mahadev, J S	U13	IND	1532	KER	7	48	48	33,50	7	4	1773
12	16		Abhishek, A R		IND	1628	KER	7	47	50,5	36,50	6	3	1759
13	58		Abinesh, V	U13	IND	1582	TN	7	46,5	50,5	36,00	7	4	1732
14	268		Paramasivam, S		IND	1437	TN	7	45	49	36,00	7	4	1779
15	402		Shiyas, N	U15	IND	0	KER	7	43,5	46,5	35,50	7	3	1777
16	82	AIM	Shaik, Abdul Nabi		IND	1566	AP	7	43,5	46,5	34,00	7	3	1742
17	154		Nevin, Jojo		IND	1514	KER	7	43	45	33,50	7	2	1783
18	134		Ayaan, S Palappillil	U17	IND	1525	KER	7	42	44,5	32,00	6	3	1748
19	28		Adwait, Darshan B	U15	IND	1615	KER	7	42	44	34,50	7	4	1697
20	48		Vinod, S		IND	1592	KER	7	41	44,5	32,75	6	2	1702
21	118		Vishnuram, S		IND	1539	TN	7	38,5	41,5	29,50	7	4	1722
22	9		Balu, Karthick		IND	1635	TN	6,5	51,5	56	37,25	6	2	1701
23	29	AFM	Mohanasundharam, S	U19	IND	1614	TN	6,5	50,5	54	37,25	5	4	1700
24	80		Katheraswaran, A		IND	1567	TN	6,5	48	52,5	35,00	5	1	1705
25	37		Niranjan, Muraleedharan	U17	IND	1605	KER	6,5	48	52,5	34,75	6	2	1676
26	8		Jayesh, T A		IND	1636	KER	6,5	48	51,5	35,75	5	3	1688
27	61		Zaeem, Shanavaz	U15	IND	1581	KER	6,5	47,5	52,5	36,00	6	3	1686
28	104		Shivin, K	U09	IND	1548	TN	6,5	47,5	51,5	36,25	5	2	1718
29	31		Zid, Neo	U13	IND	1613	MAH	6,5	47,5	51,5	34,75	6	4	1687
30	67	ACM	Nayanakheshan, Venukanan	U09	SRI	1576	Sri Lanka	6,5	46,5	51,5	35,00	5	1	1684

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