Mitrabha Guha prevails at 21st Dato Arthur Tan Merdeka Open 2026
GM Mitrabha Guha, IM Haochen Jiang and IM Iljya Grigorjev scored 7/9 each at 21st Dato Arthur Tan Merdeka Rating Open 2026. Mitrabha won the tournament on tie-breaks. The remaining two were placed second and third respectively.
Mitrabha’s 13th overall, eleventh Rating tournament triumph of the year; Four Indians in top ten
GM Boris Savchenko was the sole leader at 6.5/8, heading into the final round. Half a dozen players – GM Mitrabha Guha, IM Haochen Jiang (CHN), IM Iljya Grigorjev, IM Quoc Hy Nguyen (VIE), GM Duc Hoa Nguyen (VIE) and IM Paulo Bersamina (PHI) were trailing by a half point at 6/8 each. The reigning Commonwealth Open 2026 Gold medalist, Mitrabha defeated Paulo to become the champion. Haochen won against Savchenko to finish second and score his second GM-norm. Iljya scored a full point against Duc Hoa to finish third.
Apart from Mitrabha, three more Indians made a top ten finish. IM Ayush Sharma, GM Ilamparthi A R and GM Iniyan Pa scored 6.5/9, 6.5/9 and 6/8 respectively to claim fourth, sixth and eighth place according to tie-breaks.
The top three prizes were US$ 3000 and a trophy, 2000 and 1000 each.
Champion – GM Mitrabha Guha 7/9 | Photo: Andrew Ooi Boon Seng
Runner-up – IM Haochen Jiang (CHN) 7/9 | Photo: Andrew Ooi Boon Seng
IM Haochen Jiang (CHN) with his second GM-norm certificate | Photo: Andrew Ooi Boon Seng
GM Mitrabha Guha scored an unbeaten 7/9, won the tournament on tie-breaks and gained 11.1 Elo rating points
Players in action | Photo: Andrew Ooi Boon Seng
The tournament hall at KL Gateway Mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Photo: Andrew Ooi Boon Seng
21st Malaysian Chess Festival 2026 prize distribution ceremony | Video: GilaChess
A total of 111 players including 10 GMs, 22 IMs, and a WIM took part from 16 countries across the world in the Rating Open. The seven-day nine-round Rating tournament was organized by DAT Chess Centre, PCA at KL Gateway Mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 31st August to 6th September 2026. The time control of the tournament was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment.
Links
Malaysian Chess Festival details
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