Asian Individual 2025 R4: Iniyan and Karthikeyan in a four-way lead

by Shahid Ahmed - 11/05/2025

GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (UZB) had a well contested draw against GM Bardiya Daneshvar (IRI) in Round 4 of Asian Individual Men 2025. GM Nihal Sarin could have pushed for a win against GM Pranav Anand. However, the game ended in a draw via repetition. GM Karthikeyan Murali and GM Iniyan Pa defeated GM Sina Movahed (IRI) and Yihan Meng (CHN) respectively to join the four-way lead with Bardiya and GM Aleksey Grebnev. IM Anastasia Bodnaruk and WCM Bat-Erdene Mungunzul (MGL) won against GM Valentina Gunina and WIM Afruza Khamdamova (UZB) respectively to become leaders 4/4. WGM Srija Seshadri drew with GM Olga Girya to move to 3.5/4. Round 5 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Asian Chess Federation

Women: Srija in pursuit

GM Ivan Zemlyanskii scored an unbeaten 8/9 to become Asian Individual Men Blitz 2025 champion. GM Karthikeyan Murali and IM Neelash Saha scored 7/9 each to secure fourth and fifth place respectively. GM Leon Luke Mendonca and IM Aswath S are the remaining two Indians to make a top ten finish. They scored 6.5/9 each to be placed seventh and eighth respectively. WGM Alua Nurman (KAZ) won Gold in the Women Blitz event scoring 7.5/9. She edged past GM Valentina Gunina on tie-breaks. Gunina secured Silver. IM Yuxin Song (CHN) scored 7/9 to claim Bronze. IM Padmini Rout was the sole Indian to finish in top 20. She scored 7/9 and was placed fourth.

GM Karthikeyan Murali defeated GM Sina Movahed (IRI) to become one of the four leaders | Photo: asianchess.com

Sina - Karthikeyan

Position after 51.e6?

GM Sina Movahed (IRI, 2518) went for a b5-pawn grab with 51.e6? It actually worsened his case 51...Bg6 52.Rxb5 Bd3! 53.Rb7+ Kxe6 54.Nh2 Rc2 it's over for White.

GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (UZB) - GM Bardiya Daneshvar (IRI): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Asian Chess Federation

Iniyan - Yihan

Position after 8.Bxf7+!?

GM Iniyan Pa (2573) made an interesting temporary bishop sacrifice 8.Bxf7+!? Kxf7 9.Qb3+ Ke8 10.0-0 Bxc3 11.Qxc3 Nf8 12.f4 White has more than enough compensation and his attack yielded a longterm advantage which he went on to convert into a full point.

GM Iniyan Pa joined the leaders' pack after defeating Yihan Meng (CHN) | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Pranav Anand - Nihal: 0.5-0.5

GM Pranav Anand (2555) faced GM Nihal Sarin (2693) only once in a Classical rated game last year. Pranav prevailed in that battle. This time, Nihal got a great chance to deliver the equalizer.

Position after 67.Qa3

67...h4 is the recommended line by the computer. However, it is not easy to play on the board when 68.Qa6+ is lingering as a threat. Black got one more chance to play h4 before the game ended in a draw via repetition.

Both GM Pranav Anand and GM Nihal Sarin are at 3/4 each | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

GM Salem Saleh (UAE) - GM Prraneeth Vuppala (pictured): 0.5-0.5

GM Xiangyu Xu (CHN) - IM Srihari L R (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

IM Harshavardhan G B (pictured) - GM Mikhail Demidov: 1-0 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

IM Anastasia Bodnaruk - GM Valentina Gunina: 1-0 | Photo: asianchess.com

WGM Bat-Erdene Mungunzul (MGL) - WIM Afruza Khamdamova (UZB): 1-0 | Photo: asianchess.com

GM Olga Girya - WGM Srija Seshadri (pictured): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Maharashtra Chess Association

WGM Rakshitta Ravi (pictured) - IM Nisha Mohota: 1-0

WFM Arshiya Das played sharp chess to beat WGM Turmunkh Munkhzul (MGL) | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Replay Round 4 Open games

Replay Round 4 Women games

Round 4 Open results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
4	2	28	GM	Pranav Anand	2555	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Nihal Sarin	2693	1
4	3	40	GM	Movahed Sina	2518	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2658	4
4	4	7	GM	Salem A.R. Saleh	2631	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2474	55
4	5	11	GM	Xu Xiangyu	2623	2½	½ - ½	2½	IM	Srihari L R	2468	59
4	6	115	FM	Yang Zilong	2326	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Pranesh M	2576	18
4	7	19	GM	Iniyan Pa	2573	2½	1 - 0	2½		Meng Yihan	2443	71
4	8	58	IM	Ilamparthi A R	2469	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Grebnev Aleksey	2556	27
4	12	9	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2630	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Gan-Erdene Sugar	2464	61
4	13	56	GM	Siddharth Jagadeesh	2472	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2624	10
4	16	21	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	2569	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Rozum Ivan	2439	73

Details

Standings after Round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	12	GM	Daneshvar, Bardiya	IRI	2621	3,5	2542	8	10
2	19	GM	Iniyan, Pa	IND	2573	3,5	2521	8,5	10,5
3	4	GM	Karthikeyan, Murali	IND	2658	3,5	2519	8,5	10,5
4	27	GM	Grebnev, Aleksey	FID	2556	3,5	2518	8	10,5
5	59	IM	Srihari, L R	IND	2468	3	2610	8,5	9
6	5	GM	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin	UZB	2641	3	2549	9,5	11,5
7	72	IM	Harshavardhan, G B	IND	2441	3	2549	6,5	7
8	74		Jiang, Haochen	CHN	2439	3	2537	6,5	7
9	28	GM	Pranav, Anand	IND	2555	3	2531	7,5	9,5
10	115	FM	Yang, Zilong	CHN	2326	3	2528	7,5	9,5

Details

Round 5 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
5	1	4	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2658	3½	3½	GM	Grebnev Aleksey	2556	27
5	2	12	GM	Daneshvar Bardiya	2621	3½	3½	GM	Iniyan Pa	2573	19
5	3	1	GM	Nihal Sarin	2693	3	3	GM	Lobanov Sergei	2527	36
5	6	44		Huang Renjie	2491	3	3	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2630	9
5	7	10	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2624	3	3	IM	Harshavardhan G B	2441	72
5	9	18	GM	Pranesh M	2576	3	3	FM	Akhilbay Imangali	2346	111
5	10	55	GM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2474	3	3	GM	Zemlyanskii Ivan	2563	23
5	11	59	IM	Srihari L R	2468	3	3	GM	Pranav Anand	2555	28
5	15	6	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	2632	2½	2½	IM	Ilamparthi A R	2469	58
5	17	52	IM	Agmanov Zhandos	2480	2½	2½	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2577	17

Details

Round 4 Women results

4	3	3	GM	Girya Olga	2400	2½	½ - ½	3	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2226	38
4	5	7	IM	Vantika Agrawal	2377	2½	½ - ½	2½	WGM	Kurmangaliyeva Liya	2246	34
4	10	9	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	2363	2	1 - 0	2	WFM	Mohammadi Melika	2205	42
4	13	41	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2215	2	0 - 1	2	WGM	Nurman Alua	2338	16
4	14	19	WGM	Rakshitta Ravi	2324	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Mohota Nisha	2161	48
4	16	46	WFM	Arshiya Das	2174	2	1 - 0	2	WGM	Munkhzul Turmunkh	2301	23
4	17	47	WFM	Mikheeva Galina	2162	2	0 - 1	2	IM	Savitha Shri B	2298	24
4	18	25	WGM	Priyanka Nutakki	2277	2	½ - ½	2	WIM	Kaldarova Ayaulym	2115	59
4	20	27	WIM	Karimova Guldona	2265	2	½ - ½	2	WGM	Swati Ghate	2035	69
4	23	11	IM	Padmini Rout	2359	1½	1 - 0	1½	WCM	Buyankhishig Batpelden	2081	63

Details

Standings after Round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	17	IM	Bodnaruk, Anastasia	FID	2332	4	2296	8	9,5
2	22	WCM	Mungunzul, Bat-Erdene	MGL	2302	4	2236	7,5	9,5
3	38	WGM	Srija, Seshadri	IND	2226	3,5	2371	8,5	9
4	4	IM	Song, Yuxin	CHN	2397	3,5	2246	7,5	9,5
5	21	WGM	Balabayeva, Xeniya	KAZ	2311	3,5	2196	6,5	8
6	34	WGM	Kurmangaliyeva, Liya	KAZ	2246	3	2384	9	11
7	28	WCM	Bayasgalan, Khishigbaatar	MGL	2265	3	2306	7	8
8	2	GM	Gunina, Valentina	FID	2425	3	2289	9	11,5
9	7	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	IND	2377	3	2245	8	10
10	14	WIM	Khamdamova, Afruza	UZB	2344	3	2241	8	10

Details

Round 5 pairings

5	2	38	WGM	Srija Seshadri	2226	3½	3½	WGM	Balabayeva Xeniya	2311	21
5	6	24	IM	Savitha Shri B	2298	3	3	IM	Vantika Agrawal	2377	7
5	7	8	IM	Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegim	2369	3	3	WGM	Rakshitta Ravi	2324	19
5	8	28	WCM	Bayasgalan Khishigbaatar	2265	3	3	WGM	Nandhidhaa P V	2363	9
5	10	14	WIM	Khamdamova Afruza	2344	3	3	WFM	Arshiya Das	2174	46
5	11	34	WGM	Kurmangaliyeva Liya	2246	3	2½	IM	Padmini Rout	2359	11
5	16	69	WGM	Swati Ghate	2035	2½	2½	WGM	Priyanka Nutakki	2277	25
5	19	81		Ananya Raman	1904	2½	2	WIM	Sihite Chelsie Monica Ignesias	2239	35
5	22	55	WIM	Fronda Jan Jodilyn	2120	2	2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann	2258	31
5	23	71		Arya G Mallar	2014	2	2	WFM	Kaliakhmet Elnaz	2258	33

Details

Links

Tournament Regulations

Related news:

	Asian Individual 2025 R6: Srija Seshadri outwits Anastasia Bodnaruk, gains sole lead @ 13/05/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Asian Individual 2025 R5: Karthikeyan Murali and Bardiya Daneshvar emerge coleaders @ 12/05/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Asian Individual 2025 R3: Srija Seshadri makes a perfect start @ 10/05/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Asian Individual 2025 R2: Ilamparthi trounces Tabatabaei @ 09/05/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Asian Individual 2025 R1: Paulo Bersamina holds Nihal Sarin to a draw @ 08/05/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)