A total of 68 players including 21 GMs, 24 IMs, a WGM and 4 WIMs took part from 18 countries across the world. The nine-day nine round rating tournament was organized by Kazakhstan Chess Federation in Aktobe, Kazakhstan from 22nd to 30th June 2025. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move.

Final standings in Masters

Details

Links

From Alexey Sarana clear first at Aktobe Open 2025 Masters, Aryan Chopra second – ChessBase India

Official site

Tournament Regulations

“For the first time ever, we are witnessing a national federation organizing 10 FIDE Trainers’ Seminars in a single calendar year – and remarkably, a proposal for the 11th seminar has already been submitted for January,” said FST IO Sami Khader, Chair of the TRG (FIDE Trainers’ Commission).

“This outstanding initiative by the All India Chess Federation (AICF) is a testament to their unwavering commitment to developing chess trainers and raising the bar for training standards across the region. The FIDE Trainers’ Commission (TRG) would like to emphasise that this is not only a record-breaking achievement but also reflection of the strong, ongoing collaboration and mutual trust between AICF and TRG.”

AICF head of operations, A K Verma, explained that the initiative aims to produce trained coaches who can offer quality coaching to budding chess players. “We have been trying to provide a lot of training support to our coaches and give them the best available training so that they can use the knowledge to train students in their respective academies, institutes, personal coaching as well as in schools,” said Verma. “For the past couple of years, the AICF has been organizing five such seminars and from five to 10 is a big leap forward, we just hope more and more coaches join to reap the benefits of this initiative.”

Verma also expressed hope that schools would recognise the importance of having properly trained trainers/teachers with valid training certificates from the apex world body.

Top Indian coaches, including FST and Dronacharya awardee R B Ramesh, head coach of the Indian team N Srinath, head coach of the Indian women’s team Abhijit Kunte, GM Pravin Thipsay, and GM Tejas Bakre, have confirmed their participation as coaches for these seminars.

Registration Process:

To confirm your spot, follow these steps:

Submit your name to your respective state chess association. Ensure your state association recommends you before making the payment.

Important Details:

Eligibility: Only names received through state associations with their recommendation will be considered. Registration: Approved candidates can register by filling out the Google Form on or before July 25, 2025 for Vijayawada and for other centers: 20 days prior to the seminar starting date or subject to seat availability.

Seminar Fee: ₹8500 (includes FIDE fee), payable online via Please fill out the Google Form only after making the payment and mention the order ID.

Payment Details:

1. Online

2. Bank Deposit :Account Name: ALL INDIA CHESS FEDERATION

Account No: 432422331

Bank Name: INDIAN BANK

Branch Name: New Delhi Main Branch, G 41 Connaught Place, New Delhi

IFS Code: IDIB000N022

Selection and Refund:

Selected candidates will be intimated by email after the registration deadline.

Payments of non-selected candidates will be refunded at the earliest.

Arrangements:

Participants are responsible for their own stay and travel arrangements, which should be made only after confirmation of selection, including recommendation from their state association.

Final two GM-norms in consecutive tournaments 15 days

Harikrishnan A Ra loves to play a lot of tournaments in his trip to Europe. That is probably one of the many reasons he has won a total of nearly two dozen tournaments including Classical, Rapid and Blitz tournaments, eight of them were in seven different countries outside of India since 2021. Most of them have been reported on our newspage. We cannot wait to see him conquer more tournaments in various formats and countries across the world. Harikrishnan is training with GM Shyam Sundar M at his academy, Chess Thulir for the past few years and also at Chola Chess from the beginning of this year.

First GM-norm: 56th Biel Chess Festival Master Tournament (MTO) 2023

Harikrishnan earned his first GM-norm at 56th Biel Chess Festival Master Tournament (MTO) in July 2023 in Biel, Switzerland. He scored 6/10 to earn his first GM-norm, including wins against GM Nikita Meshkovs (LAT), GM Daniil Yuffa (ESP), draws against GM Pranav Anand, GM Luis Ernesto Quesada Perez (CUB), GM Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen (VIE) and GM Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera (CUB).