62nd National Championship 2025 starts in ten days

Will there be a new champion or an encore?

The 62nd National Chess Championship, to be organized by Andhra Chess Association is set to take place at Vignan University, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh from 21st September to 1st October 2025. The prestigious thirty lakhs rupees prize money tournament is bound to attract the top grandmasters and international masters of India.

The total prize fund is ₹30 lacs. The winner will carry home a fabulous amount of ₹600000 and the runner-up ₹500000.

With entries still pouring in, 299 players have registered so far for the tournament, which includes 12 Grandmasters, 30 International Masters and 2 WGMs.

The regular entry fee is ₹3750 and special entry fee ₹12500/- with a late fee of ₹250. The late entries will be accepted only up to 14th September. Entry fee will be accepted strictly online through this link.

Register before 14th September through here.

Players’ Profile

Surya Sekhar Ganguly (PSPB, 2573)

National champion for six consecutive times and Arjuna Awardee Surya Sekhar Ganguly of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, at the age of 42, still exhibits exuberance and ebullience towards his passion for chess. He finished runner-up in the last edition, behind GM Karthik Venkataraman. The sparkling form of Ganguly has been earmarked by his runner-up finish in the 52nd Sparkassen Chess Open in Germany, behind GM Matthias Bluebaum of Germany last month.

A former Asian champion, Ganguly is also a double gold medalist in the World Team Championship. A very short game by Gangult against Wei Yi (CHN).

S P Sethuraman (PSPB, 2572)

A former World Under-16 champion, GM Sethuraman of PSPB is also almost a veteran in chess, but still has a lot of energy and quest to conquer the chess field. Sethuraman contributed a large to the Indian team’s Bronze medal winning efforts at the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway 2014 and also won the Indian National Premier Championship in the same year. In the ensuing World Cup 2015 participating as the national champion, he knocked out GM Sanan Sjugirov in round one and compatriot GM Pentala Harikrishna in the second round. He again won the National Senior in 2023. He is also a former Asian champion.

A nice game by Sethuraman, against the three-time World Blitz champion Alexander Grischuk.

Sasikiran Krishnan (PSPB, 2524)

The achievements of GM Sasikiran Krishnan of PSPB have been paralled by only by a few players in India and some of his records may not be broken ever. Besides winning the National Championship four times, he was also crowned as the Asian champion in 2003. Some of the prominent titles in his kitty are – Hastings International tournament, Politiken Cup, Asian Blitz, Gold medal in 2006 Asian Games in the team event, Bronze medal in the Olympiad in 2014 etc. He represented India in the Olympiad eleven times, an unimaginable feat indeed.

He is an expert to correctly sacrifice a piece and obtain sufficient compensation for the material! He is the second player from India to reach the magnificent 2700 rating, after Vishy Anand.

A good game by Sasi against the five times world champion.

Recent good game by Sasi

Vignesh N R (RSPB, 2516)

Vignesh and his brother Visakh N R became the first pair of Indian siblings and brothers to become grandmasters.

Aronyak Ghosh (RSPB, 2514)

The Indian Railways player Aronyak Ghosh is one of the highest rated International Master, waiting to complete his GM-norm formalities. One cannot forget Aronyak’s game against FM Adireddy Arjun in the 61st National Championship, Gurgaon 2024.

Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB, 2511)

GM Abhijeet Gupta is the first player to win the Commonwealth Chess Championship five times. A former World Junior and a National champion, Abhijeet won the Dubai Open in 2013. He played for India in the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul in 2012.

Abhijeet won a marathon against the youngest ever Grandrmaster Abhimanyu Mishra in the Dubai Open 2023.

S Rohith Krishna (TN, 2503)

The latest and 89th Grandmaster from India is a hard-working 19-year-old lad from Chennai.

Deep Sengupta (PSPB, 2490)

A seasoned and more focused player, Deep Sengupta won the OBRO & CXU International Open 2024 in Denmark. He has also won many leading tournaments like Hastings (twice), Najdorf Memorial (twice), Doeberl Cup and Commonwealth 2014.

Other Information

Nearest Airport is Vijayawada Airport: 55 km

Nearest Railway Station: 18 km from Guntur and 10 km from Tenali

Generally a post-monsoon period with moderate temperatures. Guntur climate in September will be cool. Max. Temp. 34 & Min. 25 degree Celsius is expected.

Contact Information:

• Entry Queries: aicfnationalentries@gmail.com

• Google Form for Accommodation/Transport: 62nd National Chess Championship Accommodation Query: Email: seniornationalchess2025@gmail.com

• Emergency Contact: 8790443030 / 7989745477/ 9912855666 (WhatsApp only)

General queries will not be addressed via calls/WhatsApp. Please fill the Google form for queries. A representative will respond within 24 hours via email. For Additional information and updates, please visit here.

Organising Committee

Mr. A Suresh, President, ACA

Mr. K Jagadish, Secretary, ACA & Tournament Director 99128 55666

Organising Committee email id: seniornationalchess2025@gmail.com

Players list

Details

The three pillars, working for the success of the tournament are KVV Sarma FA & DI, a former president of Andhra Chess Association, Suresh Adusumilli, President ACA and Kauru Jagadish, Tournament Director and Secretary, ACA.

Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna, India’s pride, who hails from  Guntur, is an alumus of the host Vignan University.

India’s second Grandmaster among women Harika Dronavalli is also a native of Guntur.

Another notable player from Guntur is WIM Mounika Akshaya, who won the Asian Junior Blitz Girls Championship in 2023.

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.

The report was edited by Shahid Ahmed