Sidhant Mohapatra superb at PICA Chess Festival Blitz Rating Open 2026
IM Sidhant Mohapatra scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win PICA Chess Festival 2026 Blitz Rating Open. GM Anurag Mhamal and Sundram Kumar scored 8/9 each to be placed second and third respectively.
Siddhant’s first rating tournament triumph of the year
The top seed of the event, GM Anurag Mhamal made a perfect start by winning eight games in-a-row. IM Sidhant Mohapatra and IM Vignesh Advaith Vemula were trailing by a half point at 7.5/8 each. Anurag lost to Sidhant and the latter became the champion, the former second. CM Vihaan Karthikeya N lost to Sundram Kumar who finished third.
The total prize fund was ₹100000. The top three prizes were ₹25000, ₹15000 and ₹8000 along with a trophy and medal each.
Champion – IM Sidhant Mohapatra 8.5/9 | Photo: Durgarao
L to R: 4th IM N Krishna Teja 8/9, 2nd GM Anurag Mhamal 8/9, 1st IM Sidhant Mohapatra 8.5/9, 3rd Sundram Kumar 8/9 and 6th IM Sammed Shete 8/9 | Photo: Durgarao
IM Siddhant Mohapatra scored 8.5/9, finished a half point ahead of the competition and gained 29.8 Elo rating points
Trophies for the prize winners | Photo: Durgarao
Various prize winners | Photo: Durgarao
A total of 795 players including a GM, five IMs and a WGM took part from various parts of the country, one from Belgium, Canada, Germany and Nigeria each, two from Canada and Germany each, and four from the USA. The one-day nine-round Blitz Rating Open tournament was organized by Pratyusha International Chess Academy at Sri Chaitanya Future Pathways School in Hyderabad, Telangana on 15th August 2026. The time control of the tournament was 5 minutes + 3 seconds increment.
Links
Pratyusha International Chess Academy: Official site, instagram and youtube
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