From the CEO
Hello everyone,
Right now, I am on my way to Chennai for the 1st Chola Chess Open 2026. What makes this event truly special is the fact that there are 86 players, all of them titled, with a rating average of 2412. A strict cutoff of 2250 was maintained in this event, and that gives amazing norm opportunities to young talents. In this tournament, you can find youngsters like Sarbartho Mani, Advik Agrawal, Avirat Chauhan, Madhvendra Pratap Sharma and many others who are all between the ages of 10 and 13, and also experienced Indian grandmasters like Aravindh Chithambaram, Surya Ganguly, Adhiban, and many more.
Often, Indian players have to spend so much money to travel to different tournaments in order to get more opportunities. I have experienced this closely when supporting young talents with HelpChess. Chola has solved this problem by bringing such a high-quality tournament to India itself. I couldn’t be more grateful to Chola Chess for doing this. If India is able to hold such tournaments on a consistent basis, it would save so many financial resources for the players.
The second thing I want to talk about is a boy named Ved. Ved Phaur won the bronze medal at the World Junior Championship for the visually impaired recently, and he is just 11 years old. He won a medal at an under-20 tournament! He is surely someone to watch out for. And three days after the tournament ended, he flew down to Mumbai to take part in the Mind Champions Challenge, which he won. Speaking to his father, I realized the number of sacrifices the family is making to make his dream come true. The father is staying away from the family, and the mother is in Nagpur to support Ved’s chess career. I consider Ved one of the most amazing talents, not just in India, but in the whole world of visually impaired chess.
Ved Phaur with the Mind Champions Challenge trophy.
Lastly, a little about the tournaments we are going to next. On the 8th of November, we head to Budapest for the Total Chess World Championship. And then the World Championship broadcast will happen at Habitat in Mumbai (like 2024), where we will be commentating together with Chess.com India, doing a joint broadcast to root for Gukesh. It will be one of the most exciting events, and everyone is looking forward to it.
On that note, I want to congratulate Javokhir Sindarov for winning the Clutch Chess Champions Showdown, where he showed incredible skills to win the tournament. I just can’t believe that he managed to do that. The reason for my surprise is that the World Championship is just around the corner, and Sindarov has to make sure that he does not reveal his best openings. And yet, while doing that, he managed to win it against guys like Pragg, Hikaru and Fabi. It just shows what good form he is in. While I am rooting for Gukesh, I am also aware of the steep challenge that he faces. I have known Gukesh for almost over a decade now, and know that he loves challenges. This would be something he would greatly look forward to, just like all of us!
Until next time,
Sagar Shah
Thank you, Coffee Island and Rajdhani!
A special thank you to Coffee Island and Rajdhani for supporting the 4th Mind Champions Challenge. Coffee Island served iced coffees to the players throughout the day, while Rajdhani provided 120 meal boxes for lunch. We are grateful for their thoughtful support!
PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
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LATEST NEWS OF THE WEEK
1st Chola Chess GM 2026 R2: Sarbartho Mani Scores His 1st Classical Win Against a Grandmaster
FM Sarbartho Mani scored one of the biggest wins of his career. In the 2nd round of the 1st Chola Chess GM 2026, Sarbartho defeated GM Dimitris Alexakis with the white pieces in an exciting game. Sarbartho was in a bad position, but he kept fighting, and Dimitris over-pressed and lost the game. In other important clashes, GM Aravindh Chithambaram defeated GM Sandipan Chanda on the top board. FM Samyak Dharewa scored his second consecutive win after defeating GM Ethan Vaz with white pieces. Read what happened in Round 1 in this report.
Viresh Sharnarthi Clinches Western Asian Junior Open Title, Earns Direct IM Title and GM Norm
FM Viresh Sharnarthi of Maharashtra became India’s latest International Master, winning the Western Asian Junior (Under-20) Open Championship 2026 at the Rajpath Club in Ahmedabad with an unbeaten 7/9. The gold medal earns him a direct IM title and a GM norm, subject to confirmation by FIDE.
Sindarov: 50.1% chance for me, 49.9% for Gukesh
Javokhir Sindarov gives himself a 50.1% chance of winning the World Championship match against Gukesh Dommaraju. In a video filmed with Indonesia’s IM Irene Sukandar at the Clutch Chess Champions Showdown in Saint Louis, Sindarov split 100 points between the two - 50.1 for himself, 49.9 for the World Champion. The match opens on 22nd November in Geneva, with both players aged 20, making it the youngest World Championship match in history.
The amazing story of Peter Giannatos and the Charlotte Chess Center
Twelve years ago, a college student in Charlotte with an economics degree and no business plan asked his local chess community for $10,000 to open a chess club. They gave him $30,000. Today the Charlotte Chess Center teaches 2,500 children a week, runs more rated tournaments than there are days in the year, and hosts Judit Polgar, Peter Leko and Boris Gelfand as camp trainers. Sagar Shah travelled to Charlotte for the Daniel Naroditsky Memorial and sat down with founder Peter Giannatos to understand exactly how it was built.
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