Deepan Chakkravarthy Strikes Again, One Point Lead Going Into The Last Round at Athens Of The East

by Devansh Singh - 31/12/2025

Nine Rounds are completed at Athens Of The East 5th GM International Open Chess Tournament, and after 7 days of battles fought over the chessboard, it's Indian Grandmaster Deepan Chakkravarthy who is leading the event with 8/9 points, even after losing his first game. This comeback puts him in clear 1 point lead going into the last round. In round 9, Deepan Chakkravarthy maintained his lead after defeating GM L R Srihari. The result was quite unfortunate for Srihari, who fumbled placing his rook on e6 square and lost on time. A lot of play was still left on the board, with White maintaining a slight edge. For second place, it's a tie between GM Fedorov Alexei and IM Srihari Lwith 7/9 Points, and there are 9 players on 6.5/8 Points. In the last round on board 1, Deepan will be playing against Belarusian GM Fedorov Alexei for the title. A draw is enough for him to win the championship, but he will be eyeing another win to get that champion title in style. The 10th and final round starts at 10 am IST on 31st December. Photo credit: IA Vijayaraghavan V/Ananthi Chess Academy.

With just one Player on 8, two on 7, and nine on 6.5, the tournament is still wide open for everyone

GM Fedorov of Belarus and IM L Srihari are on the heels of the leader with 7 points apiece. Fedorov beat Sekar in a tactical shot of bank rank weakness, which ended in 27 moves. IM Srihari overcame Baswanth’s defence by a swift pawn breakthrough on the 30th move and won on the 43rd move. Another important result is an upset win of Ashirwad Swain over GM Aleksandrov. Going into the final round, its GM Rohith Krishna S vs IM Srihari L on board 2, GM Srihari LR will be playing against Premshankar BU on board 3, on board 4 we have FM Jai Sankar Subramanian Taking on Ashirwad Swain, on board 5 its a clash between Mani sarbartho and GM Laxman RR and finally on board 6 we have Sharnarthi Shlok who already increased his rating by whooping 168 points playing with the white pieces against FM Prasannaa S.

Board 1: GM Deepan Chakkravarthy vs GM Srihari LR (1-0)

Board 2: Laxman RR vs Rohith Krishna S (0.5-0.5)

Board 3: Federov Alexei vs Sekar B (1-0)

Board 4: Srihari L vs Sri Sai Baswanth P (1-0)

Board 5: FM Prasannaa S vs Jai Sankar Subramanian (0.5-0.5)

Watch all the games of Round 9 :

Rank after Round 9

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	4	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.		IND	2426	I C F	8	43,5	46,5	41,5	8
2	8	IM	Srihari, L		IND	2358	PUD	7	46,5	50	38	5
3	6	GM	Fedorov, Alexei		BLR	2377	BLR	7	45	48,5	36,25	5
4	1	GM	Rohith, Krishna S		IND	2489	TN	6,5	48,5	53	37,5	4
5	2	GM	Srihari, L R		IND	2472	TN	6,5	47,5	50,5	33,25	6
6	71		Sharnarthi, Shlok		IND	2073	MAH	6,5	46	49,5	33,75	5
7	39	FM	Prasannaa.S,		IND	2167	TN	6,5	45,5	49,5	34,75	4
8	57	CM	Mani, Sarbartho	U10	IND	2099	WB	6,5	44,5	48	32,5	6
9	96		Premshankar, B U	U14	IND	2036	TN	6,5	44	49	35,25	4
10	23	GM	Laxman, R.R.		IND	2273	I C F	6,5	44	48	34	4
11	20	FM	Jai, Sankar Subramanian		IND	2283	TN	6,5	44	48	33	4
12	61		Swain, Ashirwad		IND	2091	ODI	6,5	39	42	30,25	5
13	26		Sri, Sai Baswanth P		IND	2268	AP	6	49	53	31,25	5
14	47		Balkishan, A.		IND	2134	KAR	6	42	45	26	5
15	44		Arpith, S Bijoy		IND	2143	KER	6	41,5	45	27,5	5

Details

Round 10 on 2025/12/31 at 10.00 hrs

Bo.		White	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	Club/City
1	GM	Fedorov, Alexei	2377	BLR	7		8	GM	Deepan, Chakkravarthy J.	2426	I C F
2	GM	Rohith, Krishna S	2489	TN	6½		7	IM	Srihari, L	2358	PUD
3	GM	Srihari, L R	2472	TN	6½		6½		Premshankar, B U	2036	TN
4	FM	Jai, Sankar Subramanian	2283	TN	6½		6½		Swain, Ashirwad	2091	ODI
5	CM	Mani, Sarbartho	2099	WB	6½		6½	GM	Laxman, R.R.	2273	I C F
6		Sharnarthi, Shlok	2073	MAH	6½		6½	FM	Prasannaa.S,	2167	TN
7	FM	Sekar, B	2218	TN	6		6	GM	Burmakin, Vladimir	2428	RUS
8	FM	Madhesh, Kumar S	2324	PUD	6		6		Arpith, S Bijoy	2143	KER
9		Sri, Sai Baswanth P	2268	AP	6		6		Balkishan, A.	2134	KAR
10	GM	Manik, Mikulas	2251	SVK	6		6	IM	Murugan, Krishnamoorthy	2090	TN