Santosh Hariharan triumphs at 2nd Star Chess Foundation Rating Open 2025

by R Anantharam - 22/11/2025

Santosh Hariharan, Prasanna Karthick M, Rupak M and Sree Veeramani M scored 7.5/9 each at 2nd Star Chess Foundation Rating Open 2025. Santosh won the tournament on tie-breaks. The remaining three were placed second to fourth respectively. The top three finishers remained undefeated. Santosh drew against both eventual runners-up. The total prize fund was ₹600001. The top three prizes were ₹40000, ₹30000 and ₹25000 along with a trophy each. The five-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by P Ismail, Star Chess Foundation at M A M School of Engineering in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu from 5th to 9th November 2025. This is Santosh's first tournament triumph of his career. Photo: IA R Anantharam

Santhosh's first tournament triumph of his career, Top four score 7.5/9

13-year-old Santosh Hariharan of Telangana won the 2nd Star Chess Foundation FIDE Rated Tournament, held at MAM Engineering College, Trichy from 5th to 9th November. He and three more Tamil Nadu players – M Prasanna Karthick, M Rupak and P Sree Veeramani scored 7.5 points each to tie for the first place and finished in that order, based on their Buchholz data. Santosh received ₹40000 and a glittering trophy.

Santosh Hariharan of Telangana, the winner, receives trophy from Alhaj MA Peer Mohamed, Corresspondent, MAM Group of Institutions | Photo: IA R Anantharam

M Prasanna Karthick, who was playing the later rounds on the top two boards regularly had an inferior Buchholz compared to Santosh, fetched ₹30000 for his runner-up effort.

Runner-up - Prasanna Karthick 7.5/9 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Rupak also shared the lead frequently, but he had relatively weaker opponents, compared to those of Santosh and Prasanna and had to be content with the third place. He collected ₹25000 as the third place prize.

Second runner-up - Rupak M 7.5/9 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Sree Veeramani had a hat-trick of wins starting from the seventh round by beating A S Sri Hari of Sivakasi, to fetch him the fourth place.

Sree Veeramani's hat-trick of wins started from seventh round, against A S Sri Hari | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Former Asian Amateur Silver medalist and the top seed R Sham of Chennai drew with the eventual runner-up M Prasanna Karthick. Sham had the best tie-break score among the seven, seven pointers.

Former Asian Amateur Silver medalist, R Sham drew with the eventual runner-up Prasanna in the final round to finish fifth | Photo: IA R Anantharam

13-year-old Kishore Prajith of Hatsun Chess Academy, Sivakasi attained the sixth place by beating Vikesh Nandan Kumar of DASCB, Delhi.

Kishore Prajith of Hatsun Chess Academy defeated Vikesh Nandan Kumar to achieve sixth place | Photo: IA R Anantharam

G Karthik Bala of Tamil Nadu drew with S Rutherford of Nagercoil to reach seven points and seventh rank. Rutherford was placed ninth.

Karthik Bala (right) drew with Rutherford to win the seventh rank. The latter was placed ninth | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Second seeded E Kavin was ranked eighth, by beating R Amarnath in the ninth round.

Second seeded Kavin E (black) won the eighth place by beating R Amarnath in the final round | Photo: IA R Anantharam

11-year-old M Akshaya Vignesh of Aruppukottai, who drew with the top seed Sham, because of the threefold repetition in a better position, had the consolation of getting the tenth rank.

M Akshaya Vignesh drew with the top seed R Sham in a better position due to three fold repetition and was placed tenth | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Champion Santosh Hariharan drew with the eventual second runner-up M Rupak in the final round | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Santhosh Hariharan scored an unbeaten 7.5/9, won the tournament on tie-breaks ad gained 72.4 Elo rating points

Experienced Sa Kannan of Sivakasi could score only half a point in the final two rounds, after leading frequently.

Experienced Sa Kannan of Sivakasi drew with Kavyashree which pushed him out of reckoning | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Arbiters of Star Chess Foundation FIDE rated tournament, Trichy 2025 | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Sitting on the far lefthand side is the organizer P Ismail, who regularly conducts rating tournaments.

The venue of the tournament MAM School of Engineering and Polytechnic is surrounded by many temples and educational institutions. Surrounded by the Kaveri and Kollidam rivers, Srirangam is a city island known for being home to the vast Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple, one of the largest in India with 81 shrines spanning 63 hectares.

Srirangam temple, Trichy

Rockfort Lord Ganesh temple in the heart of the Trichy city is another star attraction

Lady of Lourdes church, located in the St. Joseph’s College campus, Trichy was built in 1902.

Lady of Lourdes church, Trichy | Photo: IA R Anantharam

Final standings

Rk.	SNo	Name	Typ	sex	Gr	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	23	Santosh, Hariharan	U14		NA	IND	1848	7,5	51,5	55	44,75	6
2	20	Prasanna, Karthick M	U16		24942TVM2025	IND	1865	7,5	51,5	54,5	43,75	6
3	29	Rupak, M			26505CHE2025	IND	1813	7,5	51	55	44,5	6
4	25	Sree, Veeramani P			4853KAN2025	IND	1838	7,5	47,5	51,5	41	7
5	1	Sham, R			4872CHE2025	IND	2126	7	51	55	41,75	5
6	5	Kishore, Prajith	U14		1302CBE2025	IND	1978	7	49,5	53,5	39,5	6
7	18	Karthick, Bala G			4220CUD2025	IND	1876	7	48	52,5	40,5	5
8	3	Kavin, E	U14		6584CHE2025	IND	2051	7	48	52,5	40,25	6
9	9	Rutherford, S			1322KKI2025	IND	1924	7	47	51	39	5
10	19	Akshaya, Vignesh M	U12		9113VNR2025	IND	1875	7	46	50	38	6
11	22	Sarvesh, E	U12		6583CHE2025	IND	1856	7	45,5	49	37,5	5
12	10	Adharva, P T	U14		6582SLM2025	IND	1923	6,5	50,5	52,5	35	5
13	32	Kavyasree, S	F16	w	6571SLM2025	IND	1798	6,5	49	53,5	36,25	5
14	16	Sa, Kannan			6778VNR2025	IND	1895	6,5	48,5	52,5	35,75	6
15	12	Mehul, S U	U16		5195KKI2025	IND	1918	6,5	48	53	37	6
16	31	Salil, Kumar D.			NA	IND	1807	6,5	48	53	36,5	5
17	30	Neev, Sajeev	U16		NA	IND	1810	6,5	48	52	35,25	5
18	21	Adwaith, Praveen	U16		NA	IND	1856	6,5	46,5	51	35,75	4
19	15	Siva, Adithyan S	U16		27021TNV2025	IND	1903	6,5	46,5	50,5	35,5	5
20	49	Sourav, S	U16		7358TRY2025	IND	1724	6,5	46,5	50	32,25	6
21	74	Rohit, Vijay	U12		2414CHE2025	IND	1623	6,5	45,5	49	33	5
22	81	Ashwath, Ram U S	U12		5145KKI2025	IND	1604	6,5	45,5	49	32,5	6
23	52	Prabakaran, S	U16		6406PDU2025	IND	1698	6,5	42,5	45,5	28,5	6
24	6	Sidharth, Mohan			NA	IND	1951	6	50	54,5	34,25	5
25	44	Adhiadhavan, G	U16		4414ERO2025	IND	1745	6	49,5	52,5	32	5

Details

About the Author

Prof. Rathinam Anantharam is an A-grade international arbiter. Member of FIDE Arbiters’ Commission, Chairman of Titles Commission in All India Chess Federation, Vice President of Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Chief Arbiter for six world championships, many Asian, International and National Championships. Nominated as one of the top seven arbiters in the world for the past hundred years by FIDE.

The report was edited by Shahid Ahmed