9-year-old Ayaan Phutane creates history by winning Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Rating 2026

9-year-old Ayaan Phutane scored an unbeaten 8/9 to win Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Rating Chess Championship 2026. He became the youngest-ever to win Karnataka State Chess Championship.

Ayaan etches his name in the record books a day before his tenth birthday

Few days ago, we reported on Ayaan Phutane winning Karnataka State Under-11 Open Rating Chess Championship 2026. A fortnight later, Ayaan won Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Rating 2026.

Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Rating Chess Championship is the biggest in the country. Not only in terms of prize fund but also in terms of participation. The total prize fund was ₹500000 which is the highest-ever for a State Championship in the entire country. The top three prizes were ₹35000, ₹30000 and ₹26000 along with a trophy each. Total 525 players registered in this event, out of them 513 took part.

Advait Ratnakara Vibhute (Bangalore Urban) was the sole leader 7.5/8, heading into the final round. Eight players – Ayaan Phutane (Bengaluru), Pankaj Bhat (Dakshina Kannada), Arul Anandh S P K (Bangalore Urban), Krishna (Bengaluru), Venkata Naga Karthik Malladi (Bangalore Urban), CM Sudarshan Bhat (Bangalore Urban), Prashanth J Naik (Gokarna) and the top seed of the event – Siddhanth Poonja (Bangalore Urban) were trailing by a half point at 7/8 each.

Arul lost to Ayaan and the latter became the champion. Krishna won against Venkata Naga to secure second place. Sudarshan defeated the sole leader Advait to finish third.

Champion – Ayaan Phutane (Bengaluru) 8/9 | Photo: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

Dr. Sumalini, Director of Silicon City Academy of Secondary Education, Chief Guest of the prize distribution ceremony, distributed the prizes to the prize winners.

Interview with Ayaan Phutane

Runner-up – Krishna (Bengaluru) 8/9 | Photo: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

Second Runner-up – CM Sudarshan Bhat (Bangalore Urban) 8/9 | Photo: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

4th Siddhanth Poonja (Bangalore Urban) 8/9 | Photo: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

Top four (L to R): 4th Siddhanth Poonja 8/9, 2nd Krishna 8/9, 1st Ayaan Phutane 8/9 and 3rd CM Sudarshan Bhat 8/9 | Photo: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

The top four finishers qualified for the upcoming National Chess Championship.

9th Rudra Rajeev (Mangalore) 7.5/9 | Photo: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

The history making champion – Ayaan Phutane with his family | Photo: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

Arbiters team | Photo: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

Top boards and trophies | Photo: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

Trophies for the prize winners | Photo: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

The tournament hall at Prestige Centre for Performing Arts in Bengaluru, Karnataka | Photo: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

For more photos, please click here.

Video Gallery

Thanks to FI NA Sushrutha Reddy, Founder, Innovators Chess Academy and organizer of this tournament for this tournament, for having us at this tournament. This is Checkmate Daily’s first in-person coverage outside of West Bengal and hopefully many more to come.

A total of 513 players took part from various districts across the state of Karnataka. The four-day nine-round Karnataka State Rating tournament was organized by Innovators Chess Academy at Prestige Centre for Performing Arts in Bengaluru, Karnataka from 30th April to 3rd May 2026. The time control of the tournament was 60 minutes + 30 seconds increment.

Final standings

Details

Links

Akshayakalpa: Official site, facebook, instagram, youtube, twitter and linkedin

Innovators Chess Academy: Official site and facebook