Tu Thanh Tran dominates Japan Chess Championship 2025
Mayur Gondhalekar and his good friend, Sheldon Donaldson regularly keeps us updated about the Japan chess scene. Sheldon writes a blog about his experience of playing at Japan Chess Championship 2025. The Canadian origin, currently residing in Japan, Sheldon's article is full of high quality photos and some interesting moments from his games. He loves playing, analyzing and making us enjoy various moments from his games. Check out his account of the tournament which took place in Curian, Tokyo, Japan. IM Tu Thanh Tran won the tournament scoring an unbeaten 8/9. He finished 1.5 points ahead of the rest. Seven players scored 6.5/9. Out of them, Muxi Chen (CHN) and IM Ryosuke Nanjo secured second and third place according to tie-breaks. Photo: Sheldon Donaldson
The Japan Chess Championship 2025 and What I Realized There
By Sheldon Donaldson
L to R: JCF President - Hiroshi Manabe, 1st - IM Tu Thanh Tran and Mr. Eduardo Tempone, Argentine Ambassador to Japan.
Top row (L to R): JCF President Hiroshi Manabe, 6th Soichiro Yamamoto 6.5/9, 7th Rion Okuno 6.5/9, 8th Koya Matsuyama 6.5/9, 9th FM Kohei Yamada 6/9, 10th CM Atsuhiko Kobayashi 6/9 and Mr. Eduardo Tempone, Argentine Ambassador to Japan.
Bottom row (L to R): 4th - FM Shou Otsuka 6.5/9, 2nd Muxi Chen (CHN) 6.5/9, 1st IM Tu Thanh Tran 8/9, 3rd IM Ryosuke Nanjo 6.5/9 and 5th IM Shinya Kojima 6.5/9.
“Free yourself from the result.” - Belal Muhammad, UFC Champion
Welcome everybody to another, free yourself from fear, self-doubt and stressing over the result, edition of the Osaka Papers.
The Japan Chess Championship 2025 took place in Tokyo, Japan, Friday May 2nd through Tuesday May 6th. A total of 85 players from all over Japan competed in a 9 round swiss-system, to decide who would be crowned the champion of Japanese chess. A prize fund of 280,000 yen (~$1,900USD), with 100,000 yen (~$700USD) going to the winner, was up for grabs. Not to mention, a spot on the next Japanese Olympiad team.
Being ranked 67th in this field, meant that I was in contention for absolutely none of these laurels, and would have to satisfy myself with the humble goal of not losing every single game.
In truth, the chances of me losing every single game were rather slim, but my two prior entrées to this tourney had ended with a dismal 2.5 points over 9 rounds. My goal was simple... better than that!!
Yet, before we get to the tournament results, how about a few pics to prove that any of this happened.
IM Tu Thanh Tran's laurels, include representing Japan at the Budapest Olympiad, where he defeated three GMs and gained his final norm to become an International Master.
In round 1, I was paired with an opponent who out-rated me by nearly 300 points, although the game was not a total blow-out, he did manage to slowly crush me.
Let's skip past that tragedy and look at a game that featured less of a rating mismatch.
Light on the Dark Squares
Round two saw me paired with Sameer Sharma, I had seen him at various chess events, throughout the years, but this would be our first encounter over the board.
One of the bad things about playing chess in Japan is the fact that everyone knows everyone, and in my case, this is doubly true, as I post detailed annotations of my games, hence my opponents know my prep more than I do.
So, I decided to give my opponent a little surprise, but playing 1.b3 instead of my usual 1.e4... big mistake. I simply was not well enough versed on the intricacies of the positions arising from 1.b3 to play effectively. Sameer saw my positional frailties and exploited them ruthlessly.
Sheldon - Sameer, Round 2
The king's safety has been fatally compromised, can you see how to exploit this fact?
Trompowsky Trouble
There are three openings I cannot stand, the London (of course), the Bowdler (it's that stupid Sicilian where they play 1.e4 c5 2.Bc4), and the Trompowsky. I hate the Trompowsky most of all.
And it just so happens, that my round 3 opponent is a proponent of this opening. Luckily for me, I'm a follower of IM Miodrag Perunovic "The Butcher" of YouTube fame, who has a great repertoire against the Trompowsky.
Tadashi - Sheldon, Round 3
On move 16 of the game, White decided to take a free pawn 16.Qxd5 big mistake, the pawn is poisoned, but can you see why?
In round 4 and 5, I played higher rated opponents and was unceremoniously butchered. but worse in round 6. I lost to a player rated lower than myself (Yes, such players were present at this tournament). So, I found myself with only one win from six rounds of play... If I was to improve on my previous Japan Chess Championship results, it was now or never.
Check First
I have said it before, and I will say it again, I'm terrified of playing against children. It's the worse, if you win, well, you just beat some 10-year-old, congratulations, and if you lose then congratulations you just lost to a 10-year-old, there is no upside.
In round 7, I was faced with this dilemma, paired with a child who I have seen crush several grown men, I knew I could not take the little guy lightly.
Mizuki - Sheldon, Round 7
My queen is under attack, but there is an important nuance to the position involving the b-file, can you see it?
The Magician's Path
In the eighth round, I once again employed 1.b3, to my astonishment my opponent replied with 1...d5 2. Bb2 Bg4, the Magician's Path, so named as it was the preferred response of the legendary Mikhail Tal, when faced with the Nimzo-Larsen.
I played an aggressive tactical style, pushing harry the h-pawn up the board early in the game. The gambit worked and by move 33 it was all but over.
Sheldon - Mori, Round 8
Can you see how I finished things off?
The Chess Gods
“The Chess Gods giveth and the Chess Gods taketh away.” - SheldonOfOsaka 2025
The 9th and final round found me paired against a slightly higher rated player, what's more, it found me free of stress and self-doubt, with three points I knew whatever happened in this game I had achieved my goal and surpassed my tally of 2.5 points from previous years.
My confidence was high coming into this game...but I soon found out that confidence can be a two-edged sword, it's nice to have, but you can get cut.
The Top Board
In the eighth round, the decisive game of the tournament was played between FM Kohei Yamada, who was on 5.5 points and IM Tu Thanh Tran, who had 6.5 points. A win for IM Tu would make his lead insurmountable.
With my 8th round game finishing early, I had the pleasure of watching the endgame live. I will not pretend to understand all the nuances of the moves played, so I will keep my annotations light and allow you, my dear reader to simply enjoy a masterclass game.
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | Gr | FED | RtgI | RtgN | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | n | w | we | w-we | K | rtg+/- | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | IM | Tran Thanh Tu | JPN | 2420 | 2571 | 8 | 0 | 47 | 51 | 44,50 | 17567 | 9 | 8 | 7,02 | 0,98 | 10 | 9,8 | ||||
| 2 | 7 | Chen Muxi | U18 | CHN | 2188 | 2031 | 6,5 | 0 | 49,5 | 54 | 36,25 | 16951 | 9 | 6,5 | 5,60 | 0,90 | 40 | 36 | ||||
| 3 | 3 | IM | Nanjo Ryosuke | JPN | 2349 | 2479 | 6,5 | 0 | 48,5 | 53,5 | 37,75 | 16656 | 9 | 6,5 | 7,31 | -0,81 | 10 | -8,1 | ||||
| 4 | 4 | FM | Otsuka Shou | JPN | 2339 | 2141 | 6,5 | 0 | 48 | 52,5 | 36,75 | 16836 | 9 | 6,5 | 7,11 | -0,61 | 20 | -12,2 | ||||
| 5 | 5 | IM | Kojima Shinya | JPN | 2315 | 2426 | 6,5 | 0 | 43,5 | 47,5 | 33,00 | 16413 | 9 | 6,5 | 7,30 | -0,80 | 10 | -8 | ||||
| 6 | 27 | Yamamoto Soichiro | JPN | 1963 | 1841 | 6,5 | 0 | 42,5 | 45 | 30,00 | 16207 | 8 | 5,5 | 3,50 | 2,00 | 20 | 40 | |||||
| 7 | 10 | Okuno Rion | U18 | JPN | 2125 | 1915 | 6,5 | 0 | 42 | 45 | 31,00 | 15691 | 9 | 6,5 | 6,53 | -0,03 | 40 | -1,2 | ||||
| 8 | 21 | Matsuyama Koya | JPN | 2001 | 2012 | 6,5 | 0 | 38 | 41,5 | 29,00 | 15478 | 8 | 6 | 5,05 | 0,95 | 20 | 19 | |||||
| 9 | 8 | FM | Yamada Kohei | JPN | 2182 | 2241 | 6 | 0 | 47 | 51,5 | 31,25 | 17001 | 8 | 5 | 4,65 | 0,35 | 20 | 7 | ||||
| 10 | 12 | CM | Kobayashi Atsuhiko | JPN | 2106 | 2219 | 6 | 0 | 46,5 | 51 | 32,75 | 16738 | 8 | 5,5 | 4,30 | 1,20 | 20 | 24 |
Postmortem
And that was it, that was the Japan Chess Championship 2025, but what did I realize?
At over-the-board chess tournaments, the chessboards are set up in descending order, with the top performing players, playing on the top boards, while the poorly performing players, play on the bottom boards.
At this particular tournament, board 1 was at the head of the hall, raised on a special platform, boards 2 through 7 were on the far right, boards 8 through 16 to the left of that, boards 17 through 28 to the left of that, and 29 through 42 were on the extreme left.
I spent much of my tourney on the extreme left, playing on the bottom boards. All I kept thinking during the tournament is how nice it would be to play on the middle boards, I just wish I was playing on those boards.
But it was not until I was at the bullet train station on my way home that I came to my realization. I ran into a participant in the Golden Week Open, a concurrent 5-round tournament, for players who were not able to qualify for the JCC.
I asked him how he did in the tournament, and he said he scored 3 and a half points, I laughed and self-deprecatingly said "me too."
He turned to me, and said, "I just wish I was qualified for that tournament."
However badly you think you're doing, there is someone out there who would give everything just to have half of what you have. Don't be dejected about your shortcomings, be grateful for your achievements.
As always, thanks for reading, and feel free to share these tactics and games with your friends down by the library or bar.
Cheers, SheldonOfOsaka.
Indian representation at Japan Chess Championship 2025
By Mayur Gondhalekar
Mr. Murugappan N, representing India, rated 1525, who scored 3/9 and finished 73rd overall, has shared his experience playing in the Japan Chess Championship 2025.
Experience of playing at the Japan chess championship 2025 by Murugappan
I’m a PhD student at the department of chemical systems engineering, Institute of Industrial science, the university of Tokyo, Japan from 2023. Last year, due to academic reasons, I could not take part in the qualification cycles. Meanwhile I played in the Golden week open 2024 Group A (U-1800) and secured the second prize. That was my first tournament win after a five-year break from chess (mainly due to academics in IIT-H). I also participated in the Japan Chess Classic (JCC) challenger 2024 (U-1800) and won the event by remaining unbeaten with a score of 7/8. That day I decided to quit from participating in the U-1800 tournaments. I started to pursue my dream of becoming the 100th GM of India. I purchased the Chessbase software and started training. Also, I had some chess books (Capablanca’s best chess endings, Killer Dutch rebooted, winning with the dragon, the chess course) from India which I used a little and still using to improve my game.
Japan chess championship 2025 was held at Tokyo. I was qualified to play in this tournament by securing my spot via the eastern Tokyo chess championship. I won the third prize at the Aichi chess championship 2025 which is another qualification event for the Japan chess championship 2025. I played in seven qualification tournaments with 35 games in total. I played many of the top players in Japan (rating: 1900 - 2250) and except one, I lost all the games in the process. But all these top players were very kind and polite. They invited me to have a post-game analysis session with them. They pointed out my mistakes and I learned their thinking process, quick decision-making abilities and great intuition combined with the super-fast calculation abilities (especially those who also play shogi).
At the Japan chess championship 2025, out of 9 games I played against 8 players who were higher rated than me. Due to my lack of experience in such a strong field, I made inaccuracies at the critical positions, which changed the result of the game. I fought hard in most of the games and earned win/draw in four of them. However, I missed draw/win chances in three others. Only two games were lost by me due to opening inaccuracies. Irrespective of the result, I enjoyed every moment of the game and played without any stress or tension. For me, becoming a better player is far more important than winning a few games with pressure and stress. With chessbase software on my side, I strongly believe, I can improve my understanding of the game and soon distant myself from the U-1800 rating zone and enter into the 2000 zone within a year’s time. All the top players in Japan participated in the event and by seeing their games and having a chat with them motivated me and made me realise that I’m capable too. In this tournament, I started with an aim of scoring 4.5/9 and ended up with a score of 3/9. Despite the poor score, I gained 25 elo points. In the next edition of the Japan chess championship, I intend to give my best and fight for the trophy. I would like to thank Hiroshi Manabe san, the president of Japan chess federation for encouraging me to play in the open tournaments, immediately after my win at the JCC challenger 2024. Thanks to FA Mayur bhaiya (brother) for his enthusiastic support and motivation. Thanks to lord almighty.
Replay Murugan's games
Prizes:
The following cash prizes, chess.com prizes as well as selection for national teams are part of the overall prizes of the Japan Chess Championship.
1st place: 100,000 yen, a plaque, dulce de leche (Traditional Argentine sugar confectionery), and ChessMood Prizes.
2nd place: 50,000 yen, plaque, dulce de leche and ChessMood Prizes.
3rd place: 40,000 yen, plaque, dulce de leche and ChessMood Prizes.
4th place: 30,000 yen, plaque, and dulce de leche.
5th place: 20,000 yen, plaque, and dulce de leche.
6th and 7th place: 10,000 yen, plaque, and dulce de leche.
8th-10th place: 10,000 yen and plaque.
Chess.com Prize
Top 10 players, other than title holders (CM/WCM or above):
1st: 6-month Diamond Membership
2nd-3rd: 3-month Diamond Membership
4th-5th: 2-month Diamond Membership
6th-10th: 1-month Diamond Membership
Selection
• The highest ranked Japanese chess national will be awarded the title of Japan Chess Champion and will receive the Argentine Cup from the Embassy of Argentina in Japan.
• The top five finishers overall and the first-placed finisher in the Women’s, Youth, and Senior categories whose chess nationality is Japanese (eight in total), will be seeded for the Japan Chess Championship 2026.
• The top one Japanese chess national will be eligible for selection as a member of the Japanese team for the Chess Olympiad 2026.
Finally, enjoy some of the beauty of Japan leading to the Japan Chess Championship.
About the Author
SheldonOfOsaka is a 43-year-old chess player originally from Canada, who has lived in Japan for the past 13 years; he took up chess 10 years ago, but only began to play over-the-board tournaments last year.
Mayur is an IT engineer and a chess enthusiast from Mumbai, working in Japan since 2013. He has played over-the-board tournaments in India, USA and Japan. He has also been a top three finisher in a one-day OTB events in Japan in 2013, 2015, 2017 and online blitz in 2020. Currently he is making use of online platforms for chess improvement and learning Ayurveda. He loves salsa dancing, reading, traveling and teaching.
