Railways Sports Promotion Board wins 45th National Team Open 2026

by Devansh Singh - 24/03/2026

Railways Sports Promotion Board A scored an unbeaten 16/18 points to win the 45th National Team Chess Championship 2026. This is the 3rd title in a row at the National Team Championship for the Railways Sports Promotion Board. Airport Authority of India scored 15/18 points to secure 2nd place and lost their only game against RSPB A. Railways Sports Promotion Board B scored 14/18 points to finish in 3rd place. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹5,00,000. The top three prizes were ₹1,25,000, ₹1,00,000, and ₹75,000 each. The championship was smoothly organized at Agrasen Dham, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, by Chhattisgarh State Chess Association from 16th to 22nd March 2026. Photos: Ayush Jain/ChessBase India

RSPB becomes champion for the 3rd consecutive year

In last year's National Team Championship, both RSPB and AAI scored equal points, and the tiebreaks decided the winner. This year, in the clash between the Airport Authority of India and the Railways Sports Promotion Board A in round 7, the latter prevailed and secured an important point to gain the lead and win the title. Mitrabha Guha won against Sriram Adarsh Uppala, while the other 3 games ended in a draw.

In 2025, it was RSPB B winning the title. In 2024, RSPB A secured 1st place, and again in 2026, RSPB A won the National Team Championship.

Champion: Railways Sports Promotion Board A

Runner-up: Airport Authority of India

Second runner-up: Railways Sports Promotion Board B

Performance of RSPB A

Tournament Hall at Agrasen Dham, Raipur, Chhattisgarh

Individual performance on all boards

Board 1

On board 1, FM Adireddy Arjun scored an unbeaten 8/9 points and just drew 2 of his games. He won against 3 International Masters and increased his rating by 27 points!! His performance helped team Telangana A to secure 4th place.

Board 1 Gold: FM Adireddy Arjun

Rk.		Name	Rtg	FED	Team	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	FM	Adireddy, Arjun	2310	IND	Telangana A	88,9	8	9	4
2	IM	Aaditya, Dhingra	2405	IND	Airport Authority of India	75	6	8	2
3	IM	Ajay, Santhosh Parvathareddy	2470	IND	Uttar Pradesh A	75	6	8	11

Board 2

IM Srihari L scored an unbeaten 7/9 to secure the Gold Medal on board 2. Srihari represents Team Pondicherry.

Board 2 Gold: Srihari L

Rk.		Name	Rtg	FED	Team	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	IM	Srihari, L	2387	IND	Pondicherry	77,8	7	9	13
2	GM	Vignesh, N R	2518	IND	RSPB B	75	6	8	3
3		Akshit, Kukkar	1690	IND	All India Reserve Bank Sports and Cultural Co	72,2	6,5	9	34

Board 3

Recently crowned National Rapid Champion, Aronyak Ghosh scored an unbeaten 7/8 points on board 3 playing for team RSPB B

Board 3 Gold: Aronyak Ghosh

Rk.		Name	Rtg	FED	Team	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	2524	IND	RSPB B	87,5	7	8	3
2	CM	Vyom, Malhotra	2052	IND	Haryana A	83,3	7,5	9	6
3	GM	Sriram, Jha	2305	IND	LIC	83,3	7,5	9	15

Board 4

Mitrabha Guha scored 6.5/8 points and won an important game against Sriram Adarsh Uppala in round 7. The win helped RSPB A to win the match against AAI and eventually the Championship too.

Board 4 Gold: GM Mitrabha Guha

Rk.		Name	Rtg	FED	Team	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	GM	Mitrabha, Guha	2508	IND	RSPB A	81,3	6,5	8	1
2		Rejath, Renjith	2039	IND	Kerala A	81,3	6,5	8	5
3	IM	Neelash, Saha	2462	IND	RSPB B	78,6	5,5	7	3

Board 5

GM Shyaam Nikhil P from RSPB A scored 6/7 points to win the board prize on the 5th board; the performance helped RSPB A to clinch the title too.

Board 5 Gold: GM Shyaam Nikhil P

Rk.		Name	Rtg	FED	Team	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	GM	Shyaam, Nikhil P	2436	IND	RSPB A	85,7	6	7	1
2	IM	Shahil, Dey	2425	IND	Airport Authority of India	85,7	6	7	2
3		Vinayak, Singh Yadav	1874	IND	Uttar Pradesh C	75	6	8	17

Photo Gallery by Ayush Jain: Here

Editor's Note

Sleep Deprived or Focused, Take your guess

I also played in the 45th National Team Chess Championship for team Madhya Pradesh. It was my 4th consecutive participation in the National Team Championship, as I love playing in team events. My best result came in 2023 in Coimbatore, where I scored 5/6 points on the 5th board to secure the gold medal. This time, the performance was decent, 5/8 points, and increased 45 rating points. Played some interesting games, saved some tough positions, and as always, had a lot of fun with my team.
The final result was not what we hoped for, but all 5 of us increased our ELO. The team finished in 19th place, but as usual, the spirit was high. Our team lost 3 rounds, and I lost the same 3 games. Captain leading from the front, haha....
A huge thanks to Mr. Vinod Rathi for organising this event in Raipur. It was one of the best arrangements I have seen in a long time by the organisers, be it food, accommodation, tournament hall, or even transport, everything was just perfect. All the players received Souvenirs, Gifts, and beautiful Memorabilia from this trip to Raipur. Hoping to play more events organized by Rathi Sir.

IM Vignesh Advaith Vemula vs Devansh Singh

Pretty interesting position out of the opening in Philidor's defence, I was not sure about Qd1 played by Vignesh. It just looked weird, and I knew something was wrong with this move. My intuition was correct, but the move I played was dubious. I played Nh5 and completely missed Nf5. Nh7 was a better move with the same idea of Bg4, followed by Bxf3 to open up the king. Check out the game below and see how one wrong move can change the game immediately.

When you know you messed up

Replay available games

Last round results

No.	SNo	Team	Pts.	MP	Res.	:	Res.	MP	Pts.	Team	SNo
1	1	RSPB A	22½	14	3½	:	½	11	19	Pondicherry	8
2	7	Tamil Nadu A	17	11	½	:	3½	13	21½	Airport Authority of India	3
3	2	RSPB B	23	12	3	:	1	11	20½	Tamil Nadu B	4
4	6	Uttar Pradesh A	19	11	1	:	3	11	17½	Telangana A	5
5	13	Delhi	19½	10	2	:	2	11	20	Kerala A	12
6	24	Haryana A	18	10	3	:	1	10	19½	Bihar B	17
7	10	Chhattisgarh A	19	9	1½	:	2½	9	17½	West Bengal A	11
8	14	LIC	19½	9	2	:	2	9	18	Bihar A	19
9	22	West Bengal C	16½	9	1	:	3	9	19	Odisha B	21
10	28	Jharkhand A	13	9	1	:	3	9	18	Uttarakhand A	31

Details

Final Ranking after 9 Rounds

Rk.	SNo	Team	Games	+	=	-	TB1	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1	RSPB A	9	7	2	0	16	26	313	53,5
2	3	Airport Authority of India	9	7	1	1	15	25	277,5	51
3	2	RSPB B	9	6	2	1	14	26	294,5	52,75
4	5	Telangana A	9	6	1	2	13	20,5	223	46,5
5	12	Kerala A	9	5	2	2	12	22	209	45
6	24	Haryana A	9	6	0	3	12	21	178	42,75
7	21	Odisha B	9	5	1	3	11	22	178	41,5
8	4	Tamil Nadu B	9	5	1	3	11	21,5	233	47,5
9	13	Delhi	9	5	1	3	11	21,5	201	44
10	31	Uttarakhand A	9	5	1	3	11	21	171,5	41