Aravindh Chithambaram won the 6th Stepan Avagyan Memorial in Jermuk, Armenia, on Friday after defeating his fellow Indian GM R Praggnanandhaa. This win helped Aravindh to become ninth in the world rankings and moved up to second place in the 2025 FIDE Circuit.
Aravindh became the 4th Indian in top 10 World rankings after Arjun Erigaisi(4th), world champion D Gukesh(5th) and R Praggnanandhaa(6th). This is the first time in the Indian chess history that four players are in the top 10 rankings. This shows the wealth of talented chess players India possess and the strength of chess system at the grassroot level in India.
The Stepan Avagyan Memorial took place from May 29 to June 6 at the “Jermuk Ashkarh” Health Center in Jermuk, Armenia. It was a 10-player round-robin.
The tournament was a 10-player all-play-all, held for the sixth time in Jermuk, a mountain spa town in southern Armenia. Last year, it was GM Arjun Erigaisi who had won the Stepan Avagyan Memorial tournament. This year, it was Aravindh’s turn to shine, alongside the younger but much better known Praggnanandhaa.
Both players tied for first place with 6.5 points each after nine rounds with 4 wins and 5 draws, but Aravindh claimed the title due to a superior Sonneborn-Berger score (tiebreak points), due to his stronger performance against higher-ranked opponents.
The tournament began with a draw between Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh, and the two remained evenly matched until the final round. Entering the last game, both Indians were tied at 5.5 points after eight rounds, needing a win to secure the title. Praggnanandhaa struck first, defeating Armenia’s Robert Hovhannisyan, forcing Aravindh to win his game to clinch the event.
Aravindh earned $7,993 for first place, while Praggnanandhaa took home $4,770 for finishing second.
Reflecting on his missed opportunity in the second round against Danish GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre, Praggnanandhaa said, “It was a good tournament for me, but I still missed this one chance in the second round. I could have probably won the tournament had that result gone my way, now it’ll probably be tied for the first spot.” Praggnanandhaa told Chessbase India, accompanied by his trainer, Vaibhav Suri.
“Overall happy with my performance, I was mostly well prepared for almost all the rounds, just rue that game against Jonas otherwise I would have been on plus five,” he added. He later called it a memorable experience and congratulated Aravindh on his win through a post on his X account
A memorable finish to the #StepanAvagyanMemorial 2025
— Praggnanandhaa (@rpraggnachess) June 7, 2025
Ended the classical event tied for first with 6.5/9 alongside Aravindh Chithambaram anna. Congrats to Aravindh anna on winning the title on tiebreaks – well deserved! pic.twitter.com/RPg9acnHNp
Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh are now 1st and 2nd respectively in this year’s FIDE circuit. With 83.59 points from five events — including wins at the Tata Steel Masters and Grand Chess Tour Romania Classic, a joint-second finish in Prague, third place in GCT Poland Rapid & Blitz, and now second in Armenia — Praggnanandhaa is the frontrunner to qualify for the 2026 Candidates Tournament via the FIDE Circuit. He holds a commanding 42.27-point lead over second-placed Aravindh (41.32 points), who has competed in three events.
Both players will next compete at the Uzchess Cup in Uzbekistan, starting June 18, alongside strong players like Ian Nepomniachtchi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Arjun Erigaisi.
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