B Vignesh wins 75th Tamil Nadu State Rating Open 2025
B Vignesh and CM A Kumaresh scored an unbeaten 7.5/9 each at 75th Tamil Nadu State Rating Open 2025. Vignesh won the tournament due to better tie-break score, Kumaresh was placed second. Eight players scored 7/9 each. Out of them, Vijay Shreeram P was adjudged third. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹200000. The top three prizes were ₹50000, ₹30000 and ₹25000 along with a trophy each. The five-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by Sivakasi Chess Club from 1st to 5th June 2025 at P A C R Ramasamy Raja Polytechnic College in Rajapalayam, Tamil Nadu. This is Vignesh's second rating tournament triumph of the year. Photo: IA R Anantharam
Vignesh's second rating tournament triumph of the year
B Vignesh of Chennai won the 75th Tamil Nadu State Open Championship, organised by Sivakasi Chess Club at PACR Polytechnic College, Rajapalayam. A Kumaresh of Virudhunagar, a silver medalist in the World Amateur Championship in Greece 2024 also scored 7.5 points, same as that of Vignesh, and was placed second, based on his tie-break score.
In addition to the cash prize and trophy, the four players who are eligible to represent Tamil Nadu in the national championship, received wristwatch as gift from the college.
While Vignesh drew with Barat Kalyan in the final round to collect 7.5 points, Kumaresh was the only winner among the top seven boards, defeating the recently crowned state under-17 and under-15 champion S Haridev of Chennai.
Vijay Shreeram won the first five rounds and drew the remaining against high rated players to secure the third place
Surendran had a crucial draw against former State Junior champion P Maheswaran of Postal services. It helped him to gain an entry to the National Championship and Maheswaran was placed sixth.
The seventh place went to M Dinesh Rajan (brother of GM Pranesh) of Karaikudi.
Goutham Ramesh of Chennai defeated R Shadhursshaan, a former National Under 15 Schools champion from Aruppukottai to win the ninth place.
TV Subramanian, aged 92 still has a lot of zeal to continue his chess journey by playing tournaments continuously. A former state champion from Madurai has contributed to the growth of Sivakasi Chess Club by playing weekend tournaments regularly at Sivakasi in the 60s and 70s.
The venue, PACR Polytechnic College, Rajapalayam is a state government aided autonomous institution founded in 1963 by a great philanthropist and former chairman of Ramco Group of Industries - Mr. P R Ramasubrahmaneya Rajha. Mr. Ramasubrahmaneya was the chairman of the Asian Junior Chess Championship Committee in 1979 at Sivakasi, the first ever official FIDE Championship to take place in India.
Other stars sitting in the front (not in order) - GM Wong Meng Kong, GM Dibyendu Barua, GM Niaz Murshed, IM Ronny Gunawann, Eric Chea, Stephen Kerr, Davoud Pira, Grant Sidnam, A Yap, K Junjunwala. Identify who is who.
Mr. Rajah’s son Mr. P.R. Venketrama Raja, Chairman, Ramco Group of Companies is a former president of All India Chess Federation. He is popularly known for his philanthropic attitude to chess, as he is the first sponsor to five times World Champion, Vishy Anand, World no.7 GM Praggnannandhaa R and his sister GM Vaishali R. Besides, Mr. PRV has spent several crores of rupees for the growth of chess in India.
PACR Polytechnic College has been supporting chess for several years by helping to organise many chess tournaments in the campus. Its sister institution Ramco Institute of Technology has also organised many rating tournaments and state championships.
A total of 212 players took part from various districts of Tamil Nadu. The five-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by Sivakasi Chess Club from 1st to 5th June 2025 at P A C R Ramasamy Raja Polytechnic College in Rajapalayam, Tamil Nadu. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | Gr | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | AGM | Vignesh, B | 9624CGL2025 | IND | 2201 | Chengalpattu | 7,5 | 51,5 | 57 | 46,50 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 2 | 8 | CM | Kumaresh, A | 9334VNR2025 | IND | 2119 | Virudhunagar | 7,5 | 46,5 | 51 | 42,25 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 3 | 9 | Vijay, Shreeram P | 2888CHE2025 | IND | 2112 | Chennai | 7 | 51 | 54,5 | 40,25 | 0 | 5 | |||
| 4 | 4 | Surendran, N | 8320TLR2025 | IND | 2145 | Tiruvallur | 7 | 50 | 54 | 40,75 | 0 | 5 | |||
| 5 | 14 | FM | Ayushh, Ravikumar | 2397CHE2025 | IND | 2020 | Chennai | 7 | 49 | 53 | 40,75 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 15 | FM | Maheswaran, P. | 9269VNR2025 | IND | 2010 | Virudhunagar | 7 | 49 | 52,5 | 39,75 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 7 | 6 | CM | Dinesh, Rajan M | 6865SIV2025 | IND | 2133 | Sivagangai | 7 | 48 | 52 | 39,00 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 8 | 5 | CM | Barath, Kalyan M | 8034TNJ2025 | IND | 2138 | Thanjavur | 7 | 47,5 | 52,5 | 40,25 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 9 | 30 | Goutham, Ramesh | U14 | 2399CHE2025 | IND | 1904 | Chennai | 7 | 46,5 | 50 | 36,50 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 10 | 13 | Yashwant, B | 5556MDU2025 | IND | 2022 | Madurai | 7 | 45 | 49,5 | 38,50 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 11 | 11 | Vignesh, Kannan P | 6862SIV2025 | IND | 2053 | Sivagangai | 6,5 | 51,5 | 55 | 37,00 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 12 | 20 | Jack, Samuel | 4349DGL2025 | IND | 1993 | Dindigul | 6,5 | 50 | 54 | 36,75 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 13 | 7 | FM | Aakash, G | 3873CBE2025 | IND | 2123 | Coimbatore | 6,5 | 49 | 52,5 | 35,75 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 14 | 3 | Haridev, S | 3718CHE2025 | IND | 2147 | Chennai | 6,5 | 48,5 | 53 | 36,00 | 0 | 5 | |||
| 15 | 28 | Saisarvesh, S | 2336TLR2025 | IND | 1917 | Tiruvallur | 6,5 | 48 | 53 | 37,00 | 0 | 4 | |||
| 16 | 12 | AIM | Arul, Prakash N | 5543MDU2025 | IND | 2032 | Madurai | 6,5 | 48 | 51,5 | 35,00 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 17 | 22 | AGM | Rutherford, S | 1322KKI2025 | IND | 1957 | Kanyakumari | 6,5 | 46,5 | 50,5 | 35,25 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 18 | 25 | Ram, Alagappan S | 1611CGL2025 | IND | 1934 | Chengalpattu | 6,5 | 46,5 | 50 | 34,25 | 0 | 6 | |||
| 19 | 2 | FM | Prasannaa, | 11203TLR2025 | IND | 2196 | Tiruvallur | 6,5 | 46 | 50,5 | 34,50 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 20 | 75 | Srinivasan, Vijayaraghavan | 9615CGL2025 | IND | 1674 | Chengalpattu | 6,5 | 41 | 44 | 28,25 | 0 | 6 |
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
