4th Anniversary of Phoenix ChessBase India Club: Ayush dominates in Rapid, Abhimanyu shines in Blitz

by Devansh Singh - 09/03/2026

Ayush Sharma from Madhya Pradesh dominated the field at the 4th Anniversary Phoenix ChessBase India Chess Club Rapid Rating Tournament. Ayush scored a perfect 9/9 points to win the Rapid event. FM Om Kadam scored 8/9 points to secure 2nd place. 8 players scored 7.5/9 points, but IM Akshay Borgaonkar secured the 3rd place on better tiebreak score. In the Blitz tournament, GM Abhimanyu Puranik scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 points to finish in first place. Kartavya Anadkat, Mithrabha Guha, and WIM Mrudul Dehankar scored 8/9 points to secure 2nd to 4th places respectively. The event was organized by ChessBase India from 28th February to 1st March at Phoenix Marketcity, Kurla. Photos: Omkar Awale and Tanmesh Mokal

Ayush's 1st and Abhimanyu's 2nd Triumph of 2026

This is Ayush's 1st tournament triumph of 2026. He finished in the second place at the Eight Square Chess Academy 1st Rapid Rated 2026. For Abhimanyu, this was his second triumph of 2026 as he won the Morde Foundation 2nd All India Rapid Rated. Both Ayush and Abhimanyu finished unbeaten in the rapid and blitz tournaments, respectively

Ayush scored a perfect 9/9 points to win the title

Abhimanyu had a tough rapid event but came back stronger to win the blitz

On 19th March 2026, the ChessBase India Chess Club at Phoenix Marketcity Mall will complete 4 years. On this occasion, the 4th Anniversary Phoenix ChessBase India Chess Club Rapid & Blitz Rating Tournament was held from 28th February to 1st March at the Phoenix Marketcity, Kurla. The total prize fund was Rs. 3 lakh for Rapid and Rs. 2 lakh for Blitz

Beautiful venue at Phoenix Marketcity Mall

Rapid tournament

The Rapid event took place on 28th February with 391 players competing over 9 rounds. Ayush Sharma won the Rapid title by scoring a full 9/9 points. As the Champion, he received Rs. 51,000 and a trophy. Om Kadam finished second with a score of 8/9. He took home Rs. 30,000 and a trophy. Akshay Borgaonkar finished third and won Rs. 20,000 and a trophy. He scored 7.5/9.

Ayush Sharma, Champion of the Rapid tournament.

Om Kadam, first runner-up of the Rapid tournament.

Akshay Borgaonkar, second runner-up of the Rapid tournament.

Interview with Ayush

Devansh Singh: How does it feel to win this tournament?
Ayush Sharma: This tournament victory has a special place in my heart as I have won a tournament after what feels like ages, this victory brought me some relief from what was a very troubling series of bad tournament performances.

DS: What is one lesson/takeaway this tournament taught you?
AS: That it's possible to make up for a lack of sleep in Classical and Rapid, but tiredness is simply fatal in blitz as being slow means simply losing.

DS: Anything else you'd like to share, maybe a game or two from the event
AS: The tournament was well organized, and I'd like to extend my gratitude to the organizers, arbiters, and volunteer team. Also, in general, it's very fun to play Rapid and Blitz cause many players are relaxed and happy compared to tense classical tournaments.

DS: Which match was the toughest for you and why?
AS: I think the game with Jeet Shah was the toughest because I had to showcase good understanding in an opening in which I had previously had bad results, although I managed to play well, I simply blundered a pawn in a better position and risked being worse. Thankfully, his time management was poor, and he failed to handle the complicated position.

Round 8: Ayush Sharma vs Jeet Shah (1-0)

DS: Anything else you'd like to share, maybe a game or two from the event
AS: I'd like to share these games cause they displayed nervous tension in both my opponents and me, as all 3 of us were playing for 1st prize.

Round 9: Akshay Borgaonkar vs Ayush Sharma (0-1)

In the last round, Om Kadam won against in-form Anuj Shrivatri to secure second place.

The biggest upset was caused by Veer Shah against GM Abhimanyu Puranik

Prize List of Rapid

Check out the prize winners in the different rating categories.

Check out the prize winners in the best female, disabled, U-15, and U-13 categories.

Check out the prize winners in the U-11, U-9, and U-7 categories.

Final Ranking after 9 Rounds in Rapid

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5	TB6
1	4	IM	Ayush, Sharma		IND	2302	Madhya Pradesh	9	52	55,5	55,5	9	5
2	9	FM	Kadam, Om Manish		IND	2251	Maharashtra	8	49,5	52,5	46,5	8	5
3	6	IM	Borgaonkar, Akshay		IND	2278	Maharashtra	7,5	53	56,5	44,25	7	3
4	16		Anadkat, Kartavya		IND	2180	Gujarat	7,5	51,5	55,5	43,25	7	3
5	1	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu		IND	2539	Maharashtra	7,5	50,5	53	43,75	7	3
6	13	IM	Dixit, Nikhil		IND	2217	Maharashtra	7,5	50	52	41,75	7	3
7	11	IM	Padmini, Rout	w	IND	2244	Odisha	7,5	49,5	51,5	41,25	7	3
8	8	IM	Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh		IND	2261	Maharashtra	7,5	48,5	51,5	40,75	7	5
9	23		Kherdekar, Arnav		IND	2021	Maharashtra	7,5	48	52,5	43	6	3
10	10	IM	Jain, Kashish Manoj		IND	2249	Maharashtra	7,5	47,5	50,5	41,75	7	4

Details

Blitz tournament

The Blitz event was held on 1st March, also with 9 rounds and 358 participants. Abhimanyu Puranik finished first in the tournament by scoring 8.5/9. He won Rs. 31,000 and a trophy. Kartavya Anadkat finished second with a score of 8/9. He took home Rs. 20,000 and a trophy. Mitrabha Guha finished third and won Rs. 15,000 and a trophy. He also scored 8/9.

Abhimanyu Puranik, Champion of the Blitz tournament.

Kartavya Anadkat, first runner-up of the Blitz tournament.

Mitrabha Guha, second runner-up of the Blitz tournament.

Interview with Abhimanyu

Devansh Singh: How does it feel to win this tournament?
Abhimanyu Puranik: It feels good to win the blitz event. I’ve had a tough rapid event, but sort of made it up in blitz, I guess. And yeah, there were some intense games, especially the last round, which was pretty intense, but somehow managed to pull through.

DS: Which match was the toughest for you and why?

AS: Yeah, basically, the whole of rapid event, I was struggling, so it’s hard to pick one game in particular. But the one I lost was pretty disappointing. And in blitz, surely in the last round, there were many ups and downs with Mitrabha, so that was a very tough game. And those were the tough games in general.

Round 9: Mitrabha Guha vs Abhimanyu Puranik (0.5-0.5)

DS: What is one lesson/takeaway this tournament taught you?
AP: I don’t know about lessons as such, but I think in rapid and blitz, it’s important to be alert all the time, and I felt my energy level dropping, or I was losing my alertness in some way for certain rounds. And the main learning is that I have to find a way to be constantly alert during these events.

DS: Anything else you'd like to share, maybe a game or two from the event
AP: I really liked my game with Akash Dalvi in blitz because firstly, we both were on full points at that point and co-leading the event, and it was a very important game. I mean, it was very complicated, but sort of went smoothly. Also, my game against Akshay Borgaonkar in blitz was pretty good, I think, quality-wise. Also, I was happy with the game with Akshay. And I played a funky opening, but it was a very interesting and fun game and with a lot of complications as well.

Round 8: Abhimanyu Puranik vs Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi (1-0)

DS: How was the overall experience of playing at this event

AP: The event was pretty well organized. I was familiar with the venue and everything, so also being in the mall it was easy to find good places to eat and rest in between the rounds. And yeah enjoyed the event a lot as I always do because I played last year as well. And it was just a very pleasant experience, I guess.

Top 3 finishers in both Rapid and Blitz

Checkout some games from the blitz: Here

Round 8: Anuj Shrivatri vs Mrudul Dehankar

Round 8: Mithrabha Guha vs Srijit Paul

Prize List of Blitz

Check out the top 10 finishers of the Blitz tournament.

Check out the prize winners in different rated and unrated categories.

Check out the prize winners in the best female, disabled, U-15, U-13, and U-11 categories.

Check out the prize winners in the U-9 and U-7 categories.

Final Ranking after 9 Rounds

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5	TB6
1	2	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu		IND	2519	Maharashtra	8,5	54	58,5	54,5	8	3
2	18		Anadkat, Kartavya		IND	2154	Gujarat	8	52,5	56,5	49	8	3
3	1	GM	Mitrabha, Guha		IND	2533	West Bengal	8	51	54,5	47,25	7	4
4	21	WIM	Mrudul, Dehankar	w	IND	2106	Maharashtra	8	48,5	52,5	46,5	8	4
5	5	IM	Borgaonkar, Akshay		IND	2310	Maharashtra	7,5	56	61	48,75	7	3
6	16		Sharnarthi, Shlok		IND	2160	Maharashtra	7,5	51,5	56,5	45,75	7	4
7	25	FM	Potawad, Anirudhha		IND	2024	Maharashtra	7,5	50,5	54,5	43,5	7	3
8	4	IM	Mohammad, Nubairshah Shaikh		IND	2317	Maharashtra	7,5	48	51	40,75	7	2
9	13	IM	Aakash Sharadchandra, Dalvi		IND	2215	Maharashtra	7	54,5	59	42,5	7	3
10	17	FM	Bagwe, Gaurang		IND	2158	Maharashtra	7	52	56	40,5	6	4

Details

Around 100–150 parents and accompanying persons attended each day. The total footfall was about 600 on Day 1 and 550-600 on Day 2. The closing ceremony was held on 1st March after all the rounds at the same venue.