Aaryan Varshney perfect at 2nd Bhilwara Rating Open 2025

by Shahid Ahmed - 20/01/2026

IM Aaryan Varshney scored a perfect 9/9 to win 2nd Bhilwara Rating Open 2025. He won the tournament with a round to spare and finished a whopping 1.5 points ahead of the field. Ashutosh Banerjee, Saikat Nath, Akshat Negi and Bhavya Kumar Moolchandani scored 7.5/9 each. They secured second to fifth place overall. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹700000, ₹100000 increased since the previous edition . The top three prizes were ₹100000, ₹55000 and ₹31000 along with a trophy each respectively. The six-day nine-round Swiss league rating tournament was organized by District Chess Association Bhilwara at Sri Mahesh Vatika in Bhilwara, Rajasthan from 24th to 29th December 2025. This was Aaryan's 22nd overall and ninth rating tournament triumph in 2025. Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

Aaryan's 22nd overall, ninth rating tournament triumph in 2025

By Ajay Kumar Gupta

Let me introduce myself and the key persons of the organising team. I am the proud Father of Arjuna Awardee, GM Abhijeet Gupta. I am working as Treasurer in Rajasthan Chess Association and Treasurer District Chess Bhilwara. Mr. Kailash Chandra Dad is the first coach of GM Abhijeet Gupta and Sr. Vice President, Rajasthan Chess Association and Secretary District Chess Association, Bhilwara. Mr. Heera Lal Tailor, Sr. Vice President, District Chess Association, Bhilwara, Mr. Satya Narayan Purohit, Joint Secretary, District Chess Association, Bhilwara. Interestingly we all are Senior Citizens. We are 64, 68, 69 and 69 years old respectively.

Champion - IM Aaryan Varshney 9/9 | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

Top 3 (L to R): 3rd Saikat Nath 7.5/9, 1st IM Aaryan Varshney 9/9 and 2nd Ashutosh Banerjee 7.5/9 | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

District Chess Association, Bhilwara conducted its 3rd All India Rating tournament in the last one and half year. The second Bhilwara All-Indian Open Rated Tournament was inaugurated by Mr. Shashi Bhushan Sinha, HR Head, Jindal Saw Limited, Unit - Bhilwara), Mr. Arun Kumar Singh, Maanaki Enterprises, Ms. Ruby Singh, Maanaki Enterprises, and Ms. Anjana Gupta, Mother of GM Abhijeet Gupta on 24th December 2025. Total 260 players registered for this event but 248 players played this tournament. Top 20 boards were live in this event. This tournament attracted 4 Blind players from Gujarat. Blind players Ankit Patni, Rahul Vaghela, Rahul Sahani and Dhruv Bhuva blind players played very well and they finished 16th, 18th, 19th in the main prize list and 8th position in the 1700-0 category respectively. These four divyang players performed very well among able players.

Blind players were felicitated by the organizers | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

The prize winners among Blind players | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

You will be surprised that we have arranged 20 DGT Boards for the live broadcast of games. Every time in Bhilwara we made such arrangements. Mr. S R Narayanan from Gujarat born January 1948 was the oldest player. Local Bhilwara boy Master Samrit Maheshwari born in June 2019 was the youngest player in this tournament.

Players in action | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

In the “II Bhilwara Open International FIDE Rating tournament 2025” IM Aaryan Varshney became the champion with a 100% score 9 out of 9. While writing this article he became the 92nd Grandmaster of India.

IM Aaryan Varshney en route his sixth round victory over the eventual runner-up - Ashutosh Banerjee | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

Aaryan Varshney scored 9/9, won the tournament with a round to spare and gained 6.4 Elo rating points

Bhavyaa Kumar Moolchandani from Jodhpur won the 1700 to 0, Local Bhilwara boy Arnav Suriya won the 1550-0 category and Yashshvi Jaiswal won the unrated category Championships respectively.

Top 3 in Category 0-1700 (L to R): 3rd Manush Patel 6.5/9, 1st Bhavya Kumar Moolchandani 7.5/9 and 2nd Veer Kumar 7/9 | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

Top 3 in Category 0-1550 (L to R): 2nd Devansh Ashvin Jasani 6.5/9, 1st Arnav Suriya 7/9 and 3rd Novratan Soni 6/9 | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

Top 3 in Unrated (L to R): 3rd Pranab Maji Ishayu 5.5/9, 1st Yashsvi Jaiswal 6/9 and 2nd Raghav Kumar 6/9 | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

Inauguration ceremony | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

Guests at the inauguration ceremony (L to R): Mr. Kailash Dad, Mr. Pawan Bansal, Ms. Anjana Gupta, Ms. Ruby Singh, Mr. Narendra Srimali, Mr. Srigopal Rathi, Mr. Arun Singh and Mr. Shashi.

Mr. Ashok Kothari, MLA, Bhilwara, delivering his speech at the inauguration ceremony | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

We are thankful to Mr. Ashok Kothari, MLA, Bhilwara, Mr. Arun Singh, Maanaki Enterprises, Mr. Rajendra Singh Pokharana, Delice Hotel, Mr. Tilok Chhabra, RCM Group, Mr. J C Laddha, Sudiva Spinners Pvt Ltd. and Mr. Shashi Bhushan Sinha, Jindal Saw Limited, Mr. Pawan Bansal, Prep Enterprises who are the main sponsors of the tournament. We received more contributions from many more from the Firms / individuals / companies. We also appreciate their contribution towards the successful event. We provided free Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner (with a fixed menu) to every player and accompanying person during the tournament.

Ceremonial first move of Round 4 | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

Arbiters' team | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

International Arbiter Narendra Srimali, Chief Arbiter, IA Pavan K Rathi, Deputy Chief Arbiter, IA Niraj Patel, Deputy Chief Arbiter, IA Shardul, SNA Ajay Kumar Gupta, SNA Kailash Chandra Dad, SNA Rohit Lodha, SNA Kaushal Jaiswal, SNA Rajesh Acharya, SNA Vishal Bhatiya, SNA Prem Singh, SNA Leena Bhattacharya and SNA Vishal Tiwari were the members of arbiter’s team.

A braille chess board in front of a blind chess player | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

Blind chess players with prizes after the prize distribution ceremony | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

We are working hard to produce many more rated chess players and one more Grand Master from Bhilwara. The one and only Grand Master from Rajasthan GM Abhijeet Gupta (Mr. Commonwealth) hails from Bhilwara. We can understand this is not an easy task. We are also committed to organise a GM Tournament in the coming 2 to 3 years.

The tournament hall at Sri Mahesh Vatika in Bhilwara, Rajasthan | Photo: Ajay Kumar Gupta / District Chess Association, Bhilwara

Recently we have organised following tournaments in previous two and half years

1. State U-07 Open & Girls Chess Championship 2022 – June 2022

2. State Amateur Chess Championship – December 2022

3. State Amateur Rating Chess Championship – September 2023

4. State U-07 Open & Girls Chess Championship 2024 – July 2024

5. State U-09 Open & Girls Chess Championship 2024 – July 2024

6. State U-17 Girls Chess Championship 2024 – July 2024

7. All India FIDE Rating Tournament Prize Fund 5.00 Lacs – July 2024

8. Bhilwara All India Open Rating Tournament Prize Fund 6.00 Lacs – December 2024

9. II Bhilwara All India Open Rating Tournament Prize Fund 7.00 Lacs – December 2025

A total of 240 players including an IM took part from various parts of India. The six-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by Zila Shatranj Sangh, Bhilwara at Sri Mahesh Vatika in Bhilwara, Rajasthan from 24th to 29th December 2025. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5	TB6
1	1	IM	Aaryan Varshney			IND	2507	DL	9	52,5	57,5	57,5	9	4
2	3		Banerjee Ashutosh			IND	1957	CT	7,5	53	57	44,75	7	3
3	9	AIM	Saikat Nath			IND	1798	DL	7,5	52	53,5	41,25	7	3
4	6		Akshat Negi			IND	1872	DL	7,5	51,5	55,5	43,25	7	4
5	21		Bhavya Kumar Moolchandani	U15		IND	1672	RJ	7,5	48	52	41,25	7	4
6	19	AIM	Veer Kumar	U13		IND	1675	RJ	7	49,5	54,5	40,25	6	2
7	49		Saumya Aggarwal	U15		IND	1563	RJ	7	49,5	54	40	6	2
8	14		Aaradhya Upadhyay	F11	w	IND	1706	RJ-BHL	7	48	52,5	39	6	5
9	10		Rewansh Vaidya			IND	1734	MP	7	47	51	37,5	6	2
10	78		Arnav Suriya	U13		IND	1486	RJ-BHL	7	39,5	43,5	34,25	6	3
11	4	FM	Prakash Ram			IND	1949	PB	6,5	52	56,5	37,5	6	3
12	7		Medhansh Goyal	U13		IND	1813	PB	6,5	52	54	36,25	5	2
13	13	AIM	Mandloi Mukesh			IND	1708	RJ	6,5	50	53,5	36	5	3
14	27	AFM	Manush Patel	U13		IND	1639	GJ	6,5	48,5	52,5	35,5	5	2
15	43		Bajrang Lal Prajapat	S55		IND	1577	RJ	6,5	48	50,5	34	6	3
16	46		Ashok Kumar Batham	S55		IND	1568	RJ	6,5	46	50	34,75	5	3
17	22		Varnit Dixit	U13		IND	1672	RJ	6,5	46	48	31,75	6	3
18	64		Devansh Ashvin Jasani			IND	1522	GJ	6,5	44,5	48	31	5	4
19	24		Alokik Maheshwari	U13		IND	1655	RJ-BHL	6,5	43,5	47,5	33	5	2
20	25		Amber Gangwal	U11		IND	1653	MH	6,5	42,5	46,5	32,75	6	2
21	31		Jalap Indraj			IND	1630	RJ	6,5	40	44	31,75	6	2
22	30		Bhuva Dhruv			IND	1634	GJ	6,5	40	44	29,75	6	4
23	17		Aole Sangharsh			IND	1691	MH	6	49	49,5	29	6	2
24	2		Amit Kumar Dad			IND	2017	RJ-BHL	6	48	53	32,75	5	2
25	34		Shaurya Bhargava			IND	1615	RJ	6	47,5	51	27,5	6	2