Abhijeet Gupta convincingly clinches Pune GM RR 2026, Aswath S second and Kushagra Mohan third

GM Abhijeet Gupta scored an unbeaten 7.5/9 to win Pune International GM Round-Robin 2026. IM Aswath S scored 7/9 to secure second place and also earn his final GM-norm to become India’s 98th Grandmaster.

Aswath earns a GM-norm, second IM-norm for Advik Amit Agrawal

The inaugural edition of Pune International GM Round-Robin was successful. The objective of the tournament was to create an opportunity to score GM-norms. It was the vision of Mr. Prakash Kunte who passed away, a day before the tournament concluded.

This is Abhijeet’s second rating tournament triumph of the year after he won 16th Odisha GM 2026 early this year.

The total prize fund was ₹250000. The top three prizes were ₹100000, ₹75000 and ₹50000 along with a trophy each.

Champion – GM Abhijeet Gupta 7.5/9 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Runner-up – IM Aswath S 7/9 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Second Runner-up – IM Kushagra Mohan 6.5/9 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

4th FM Advik Amit Agrawal 5/9 | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Abhijeet – Aswath, Round 2

Position after 26.Bxg6!

Before IM Aswath S (2517) became India’s 98th Grandmaster, GM Abhijeet Gupta (2540) scored an emphatic victory over him. In an already advantageous position, Abhijeet made things worse for Aswath as he sacrificed his bishop for a couple of pawns 26.Bxg6! fxg6 27.Nxg6+ Kg8 28.Ne7+ Rxe7 29.dxe7 Re8 30.Qxh5 Rxe7 31.Qxd5+ Kh8 32.Bxc5 Rxe1+ 33.Rxe1 Qxc5 34.Qxc5 Nxc5 35.g4 and White had no trouble converting his advantage into a win. Aswath scored 6/7 in his next seven games to earn his final GM-norm and become India’s 98th Grandmaster.

GM Abhijeet Gupta scored an unbeaten 7.5/9, finished a half point ahead of the rest and gained 15.7 Elo rating points

Aleksej – Aswath, Round 7

Position after 35…h4!

Aswath showed fantastic positional understanding as decided against taking the rook and went with 35…h4! 36.Rff1 hxg3 37.h3 Ne5 the knight is aiming to go to f2 via d3. 38.Bd1 Rg6 39.Nb3 Nd3 40.Re2 Nf2 and Black went on to win the game.

IM Aswath S scored 7/9, performed at 2644, earned his final GM-norm to become India’s latest Grandmaster, finished second and also increased his Elo rating by 13.8 points

Advik – Aleksej, Round 1

Position after 18…Nb6

FM Advik Amit Agrawal (2382) punished his opponent GM Aleksej Aleksandrov’s (2433) mistake 18…Nb6? 19.Nxe6+- fxe6 20.Qh5 g6 21.Bxg6! d4 22.Be4 and White won after a dozen more moves. Advik made a perfect start by beating a GM. He went on to score 5/9, finish fourth and earn his second IM-norm. He is final IM-norm away from becoming India’s next IM.

FM Advik Amit Agrawal receives his second IM-norm certificate | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

FM Advik Amit Agrawal scored 5/9, performed at 2482 and added 23.8 Elo rating points

Round 6 in progress | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Advik Amit Agrawal with his family | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Top four finishers with players, arbiters, organizers and guests | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Prize distribution ceremony | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Replay all available games

The nine-day ten player GM Round-Robin tournament was organized by Buddhibal Kreeda Trust at The Fern Habitat in Pune, Maharashtra from 30th June to 8th July 2026. The time control of the tournament was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment.

Final standings