Md. Imran Wins Colonel Santosh Babu Rapid Rating Chess Tournament 2026
International Master Md. Imran scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win the Colonel Santosh Babu Rapid Rating Chess Tournament 2026. IM Vignesh Advaith Vemula also scored 8.5/9, but better tiebreaks helped Imran win the tournament. Five players scored 8/9 to finish in 3rd to 7th places according to tiebreak scores. LSK Chess Academy organised the tournament on 11th and 12th July in memory of the late Mahavir Chakra-honoured Colonel Santosh Babu. Photo: L. Satish Kumar
Imran's Comeback
Recently, most of you have read about how Md Imran scored 2 GM Norms in tournaments in a very difficult situation. Stranded with Fever, No Passport, and 2 GM Norms: The Unbelievable Story of 16-Year-Old IM Md Imran. After coming back from Hungary, Imran played some great chess here and drew only one game against the runner-up, Vignesh Advaith Vemula
Organising Committee thanks the parents of Colonel Santosh Babu, B. Manjula garu and Upendar garu for their support and contribution of ₹20,000 towards conducting the chess tournament in his honour.
The tournament was organised at Sapthapadi A/C Gardens, Nizampet Road, Bachupally, Hyderabad, with a time control of 25 mins + 10 sec increment for each move from move no. 1. The total prize fund was ₹3,00,000 with top 3 prizes of ₹40,000, ₹25,000 and 15,000 respectively. A total of 712 players took part in this huge two-day rapid rating chess tournament.
Final Ranking after 9 Rounds
Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | TB6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | IM | 2248 | AP | 8,5 | 55,5 | 60,5 | 56,25 | 0 | 8 | 3 | ||||
2 | 5 | IM | 2083 | TG | 8,5 | 55 | 58,5 | 54,25 | 0 | 8 | 4 | ||||
3 | 2 | CM | 2166 | TG | 8 | 54 | 59,5 | 51 | 0 | 8 | 4 | ||||
4 | 17 | 1935 | TG | 8 | 54 | 57,5 | 50 | 0 | 8 | 3 | |||||
5 | 10 | U15 | 1989 | TG | 8 | 50 | 53 | 45,5 | 0 | 8 | 4 | ||||
6 | 7 | FM | 2042 | UBI | 8 | 49,5 | 54 | 47 | 0 | 8 | 4 | ||||
7 | 16 | 1936 | GJ | 8 | 48,5 | 51 | 44 | 0 | 8 | 5 | |||||
8 | 37 | U15 | 1746 | AP | 7,5 | 55,5 | 56,5 | 44,75 | 0 | 7 | 3 | ||||
9 | 3 | CM | U11 | 2138 | TG | 7,5 | 54,5 | 60 | 47,75 | 0 | 7 | 3 | |||
10 | 13 | 1960 | TG | 7,5 | 54 | 57 | 45,25 | 0 | 7 | 3 | |||||
11 | 12 | IM | 1977 | TG | 7,5 | 53,5 | 57,5 | 46,75 | 0 | 7 | 2 | ||||
12 | 6 | 2077 | AP | 7,5 | 53 | 57,5 | 46,5 | 0 | 7 | 4 | |||||
13 | 4 | FM | 2130 | TG | 7,5 | 53 | 54,5 | 43,5 | 0 | 7 | 4 | ||||
14 | 55 | 1702 | AP | 7,5 | 46 | 47,5 | 38,25 | 0 | 7 | 3 | |||||
15 | 18 | 1931 | AP | 7 | 53,5 | 57,5 | 41 | 0 | 7 | 3 |