Nihal Sarin prevails at 18th Tashkent Open, Abhimanyu Puranik third

by Shahid Ahmed - 30/03/2025

GM Nihal Sarin drew against GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (UZB) to win 18th Tashkent Open, Agzamov Memorial 2025 Open A (≥1800). He finished a half point ahead of the rest as both GM Abhimanyu Puranik and GM Sanan Sjugirov (HUN) drew their games against GM Aleksandar Indjic (SRB) and GM S L Narayanan respectively. Sanan secured second place and Abhimanyu third according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the tournament was US$ 75000. The top three prizes were US$ 20000, 10000 and 7000 along with a trophy each. GM Aditya Mittal is the only other Indian to make a top ten finish. He scored 7/10 to finish tenth. This was Nihal's first Classical rating tournament in 2025 and he won it convincingly. Photo: Uzbekistan Chess Federation

Nihal wins two consecutive tournaments in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

The last Classical rating tournament Nihal Sarin won was 3rd President Cup in November 2024 in Uzbekistan. He started 2025 by winning the first Classical rating tournament he played. WFM Shubhi Gupta became the top female performer. She scored 6/10 to finish 44th overall and first among female participants.

Top 3 (L to R): 2nd GM Sanan Sjugirov (HUN) 7.5/10, 1st GM Nihal Sarin 8/10 and 3rd GM Abhimanyu Puranik 7.5/10 | Photo: Uzbekistan Chess Federation

GM Nihal Sarin drew with GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (UZB) to become a clear champion | Photo: Uzbekistan Chess Federation

Nihal Sarin scored an unbeaten 8/10, finished a half point ahead of the rest, performed at 2699 and gained 7.1 Elo rating points

Top 3 Women (L to R): 2nd WFM Tatyana Getman 5.5/10, 1st WFM Shubhi Gupta 6/10 and 3rd WFM Varvara Poliakova 5.5/10 | Photo: Uzbekistan Chess Federation

A total of 153 players including 20 GMs, 32 IMs, a WIM took part from 15 countries across the world in Open A (≥1800). The ten day ten-round Swiss league rating tournament was organized by Uzbekistan Chess Federation at International Chess Academy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 20th to 29th March. It had a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Replay Round 10 games

Round 10 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
10	1	2	GM	Vokhidov Shamsiddin	2670	7	½ - ½	7½	GM	Nihal Sarin	2687	1
10	2	5	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2636	7	½ - ½	6½	GM	Indjic Aleksandar	2651	3
10	3	7	GM	Narayanan S L	2622	6½	½ - ½	7	GM	Sjugirov Sanan	2631	6
10	5	11	GM	Adhiban B.	2554	6	½ - ½	6½	IM	Begmuratov Khumoyun	2430	34
10	6	13	GM	Madaminov Mukhiddin	2550	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Nitish Belurkar	2441	30
10	7	15	GM	Tiviakov Sergei	2530	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad	2432	33
10	8	31	GM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2437	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Atabayev Saparmyrat	2529	16
10	9	18	GM	Lobanov Sergei	2508	6	1 - 0	6	IM	Soham Kamotra	2430	36
10	11	12	GM	Aditya Mittal	2550	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Tin Jingyao	2597	9
10	12	68	FM	Rostovtsev Dmitry	2292	6	½ - ½	6	IM	Goutham Krishna H	2449	29
10	13	4	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2643	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Khoroshev Nikita	2358	53
10	14	40	IM	Audi Ameya	2404	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Makarian Rudik	2547	14
10	17	20	GM	Lalit Babu M R	2495	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	2355	54
10	18	56	IM	Slizhevsky Alexander	2353	5½	0 - 1	5½	IM	Ayush Sharma	2485	21
10	21	50	IM	Ritviz Parab	2363	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Neelash Saha	2460	25

Details

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	1	GM	Nihal, Sarin			IND	2687	8	59	63	0	6	2699	0,71	10	7,1
2	6	GM	Sjugirov, Sanan			HUN	2631	7,5	59,5	64,5	0	6	2702	1,09	10	10,9
3	5	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu			IND	2636	7,5	58,5	63	0	5	2643	0,34	10	3,4
4	8	GM	Daneshvar, Bardiya	U20		IRI	2609	7,5	53,5	58,5	0	6	2529	-0,54	10	-5,4
5	2	GM	Vokhidov, Shamsiddin			UZB	2670	7,5	52	56,5	0	5	2556	-0,67	10	-6,7
6	9	GM	Tin, Jingyao			SGP	2597	7	59	64,5	0	6	2607	0,42	10	4,2
7	3	GM	Indjic, Aleksandar			SRB	2651	7	58,5	63,5	0	4	2587	-0,52	10	-5,2
8	10	GM	Nesterov, Arseniy			FID	2593	7	57,5	62	0	4	2539	-0,61	10	-6,1
9	34	IM	Begmuratov, Khumoyun	U16		UZB	2430	7	57	61	0	4	2633	2,85	10	28,5
10	12	GM	Aditya, Mittal	U20		IND	2550	7	56,5	60	0	4	2576	0,51	10	5,1
11	31	GM	Prraneeth, Vuppala	U18		IND	2437	7	55,5	59,5	0	6	2492	1,25	10	12,5
12	7	GM	Narayanan, S L			IND	2622	7	55	59	0	5	2577	-0,30	10	-3
13	38	IM	Rakhmatullaev, Almas	U20		UZB	2413	7	54,5	58,5	0	5	2456	1,03	10	10,3
14	18	GM	Lobanov, Sergei			FID	2508	7	54	59	0	5	2560	0,80	10	8
15	23	IM	Suyarov, Mukhammadzokhid	U16		UZB	2474	7	53,5	57,5	0	7	2542	1,01	10	10,1

Details

Links

Uzbekistan Chess Federation

Related news:

	Can Nihal Sarin win 18th Tashkent Open? @ 29/03/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	18th Tashkent Open R8: Abhimanyu Puranik and Nihal Sarin stay in the lead @ 28/03/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	18th Tashkent Open R1-7: Nihal, Abhimanyu and Saparmyrat in a three-way lead @ 27/03/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Saparmyrat Atabayev wins 2nd Al-Beruniy International Chess Tournament Futures 2025, Iniyan second @ 18/02/2025 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Adhiban convincingly clinches Tashkent International Chess Festival 2024 Masters @ 23/12/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Nihal Sarin sensational at 3rd International President Cup 2024 with a 2809 performance @ 30/11/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Nihal Sarin subdues Javokhir Sindarov, on the verge of winning 3rd President Cup 2024 @ 29/11/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	3rd President Cup R7: Nihal and Sindarov emerge coleaders, Abhimanyu forces draw against Abdusattorov @ 28/11/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	3rd President Cup R1-6: Neelash beats Bernadskiy, joins the five-way lead with Nihal and Sankalp @ 27/11/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Anastasia Bodnaruk wins 2nd International Women's Championship 2024, Soumya Swaminathan second @ 17/03/2024 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	"Abdusattorov has a lot of similarities to Magnus Carlsen" - GM Ivan Sokolov @ 21/08/2022 by Himank Ghosh (en)
	The young guns who ruled the Olympiad- Team Uzbekistan @ 13/08/2022 by Himank Ghosh (en)