V S Nandish and Pratitee Bordoloi are the Indian Under-17 National Champions
V S Nandish of Tamil Nadu and Pratitee Bordoloi of Karnataka won the 35th National U-17 Open and Girls Chess Championship 2026. In the Open section, FM V S Nandish (TN) scored 9.5/11 points to clinch the National Championship, and Ethan Vaz (Goa) scored 9/11 to secure 2nd place. 7 players scored 8.5/11 to finish from 3rd to 9th place, respectively; Madhvendra Pratap Sharma (MP) secured 3rd place on better tiebreak scores. In the Girls section, Pratitee Bordoloi scored 9/11 to become National Champion, Saranya Devi Narahari (AP) scored 8.5/11 to secure 2nd place, and Anushka Bapu Kutwal (MAH) secured 3rd place after scoring 8/11. The National Championship was organised by the Gujarat State Chess Association in Ahmedabad. Photos: Neelkanth Kagathara
An Interesting Coincidence
Apart from winning the National Championship together, there were some more Coincidences in the path of V S Nandish and Pratitee Bordoloi. Both players started strong with 2 wins, but in the 3rd round, both players lost their games against lower-rated players with black pieces. Losing an early round in the National Championship is always tough, but both Nandish and Pratitee recovered from this loss and managed to win the title. Nandish scored 7.5 in the remaining 8 rounds, while Pratitee scored 7 in the remaining 8 rounds.
Left to Right: Girls – 5th Shanmathi Sree S of Tamil Nadu, 4th Sannidhi Ramakrishna Bhat of Maharashtra, 3rd Anushka Bapu Kutwal of Maharashtra, 2nd Saranya Devi Narahari of Andhra Pradesh, and 1st Pratitee Bordoloi of Karnataka
Open – 1st V S Nandish of Tamil Nadu, 2nd Ethan Vaz of Goa, 3rd Madhvendra Pratap Sharma of Madhya Pradesh, 4th Akshay Borgaonkar of Maharashtra, and 5th Viresh Sharnarthi of Maharashtra.
Open Section
It was a Nail-Biting last round clash in the Open section where V S Nandish, Madhvendra Pratap Sharma, and Viresh Sharnarthi were co-leading with 8.5/10 points. In the top table clash, Nandish secured a win over Madhvendra to reach 9.5/11, while on the second board, Ethan Vaz defeated Viresh to secure the 2nd place.
A total of 252 players, including 3 IMs, 11 FMs, and other titled players, took part from various states and union territories in the National Championship
Replay Available Games (Open)
Final Ranking after 11 Rounds (Open)
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | RtgI | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | TB6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 15 | FM | IND | 2232 | Tamil Nadu | 9,5 | 68,5 | 73,5 | 63,25 | 0 | 9 | 4 | |
2 | 1 | IM | IND | 2522 | Goa | 9 | 77 | 83 | 66,75 | 0 | 7 | 3 | |
3 | 5 | FM | IND | 2353 | Madhya Pradesh | 8,5 | 80 | 86 | 63,5 | 0 | 7 | 4 | |
4 | 4 | IM | IND | 2379 | Maharashtra | 8,5 | 75,5 | 80,5 | 60 | 0 | 7 | 2 | |
5 | 7 | FM | IND | 2301 | Maharashtra | 8,5 | 74,5 | 79,5 | 58 | 0 | 8 | 3 | |
6 | 12 | IND | 2248 | Kerala | 8,5 | 74 | 79,5 | 58,5 | 0 | 7 | 2 | ||
7 | 24 | IND | 2176 | Maharashtra | 8,5 | 73,5 | 75,5 | 55 | 0 | 8 | 3 | ||
8 | 2 | IM | IND | 2424 | Telangana | 8,5 | 71,5 | 75,5 | 56,25 | 0 | 7 | 4 | |
9 | 27 | CM | IND | 2167 | Maharashtra | 8,5 | 70 | 75,5 | 56,5 | 0 | 7 | 4 | |
10 | 20 | IND | 2185 | Chandigarh | 8 | 72,5 | 77,5 | 53,75 | 0 | 7 | 2 |
Girls Section
In the last round of the Girls section, there were 4 decisive results on the top 4 boards, resulting in a big shift in rankings. Saranya Devi Narahari was leading the field with 8.5/10 points, while Anushka Bapu Kutwal and Pratitee Bordoloi were on 8/10 points. On the first board, Pratitee defeated Saranya Devi with white pieces to finish in clear 1st position, while on the second board, Anushka lost to Yashita Rout to finish in 3rd place.
Replay Available Games (Girls)
Final Ranking after 11 Rounds (Girls)
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | WFM | IND | 2102 | Karnataka | 9 | 69,5 | 74,5 | 61,25 | |
2 | 25 | WFM | IND | 1845 | Andhra Pradesh | 8,5 | 73,5 | 79 | 58,75 | |
3 | 8 | WCM | IND | 2019 | Maharashtra | 8 | 73,5 | 78 | 54 | |
4 | 5 | IND | 2042 | Maharashtra | 8 | 68,5 | 74 | 51,75 | ||
5 | 6 | WCM | IND | 2039 | Tamil Nadu | 8 | 68,5 | 73 | 49,75 | |
6 | 18 | IND | 1925 | Odisha | 8 | 67 | 72,5 | 51,5 | ||
7 | 15 | IND | 1941 | Rajasthan | 7,5 | 74,5 | 79 | 51 | ||
8 | 10 | WCM | IND | 1984 | Andhra Pradesh | 7,5 | 71 | 76 | 47,75 | |
9 | 20 | WCM | IND | 1898 | Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 7,5 | 69,5 | 73,5 | 47,25 | |
10 | 23 | IND | 1854 | Uttar Pradesh | 7,5 | 68,5 | 73,5 | 46,25 |
Photo Gallery: Here
The tournament was organised by the Gujarat State Chess Association from 30th March to 7th April 2026 at Rajpath Club, S.G.Highway, Ahmedabad. The Time control of this 11-round Swiss System Classical tournament was 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment from move 1.
The total Prize Fund of the Under-17 National Championship was ₹9,00,000, ₹4,50,000 in the Open and ₹4,50,000 in the Girls sections. The top-3 prizes were ₹90,000, ₹70,000, and ₹58,000 each.
