31st Abu Dhabi Masters R2: Kushagra Mohan and Suyog Wagh score big upsets

by Shahid Ahmed - 17/08/2025

IM Kushagra Mohan and IM Suyog Wagh scored the big wins in the second round of 31st Abu Dhabi Chess Festival 2025 Masters. Kushagra played beautiful chess to beat GM Andrew Hong (USA). He punished his GM opponent correctly for keeping his king stranded at the middle of the board. Suyog on the other hand scored an emphatic victory over India's latest GM S Rohith Krishna. IM Soham Kamotra held GM Bartosz Socko (POL) to a draw. Soham actually had a substantial advantage which he could not capitalize on. A total of 27 players including ten Indians have both of their games in the first two rounds. Round 3 starts today at 5 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Aditya Sur Roy

John Veny plays well against Jakub Seemann

Kushagra - Hong

Position after 19.d4!

IM Kushagra Mohan (2408) played a nice move 19.d4! taking advantage of the absolute pin on the e-file. The remaining two pieces cannot capture the d4-pawn. 19...Bd6 20.Rd1 Kd8 21.dxe5 Qxe5 22.Qxe5 Bxe5 23.Rd5 d6 24.Rxb5 White went on to use his extra pawn advantage into a win.

Final moments + interview with IM Kushagra Mohan | Video: ChessBase India

IM Kushagra Mohan scored a big win over GM Andrew Hong (USA)

Soham - Bartosz

Position after 19.f5

IM Soham Kamotra (2407) got himself a good position after 19.f5. However. the experienced GM Bartosz Socko (POL, 2574) eventually managed to bring his bishop back into play and salvaged a draw after his opponent could not utilize extra pawn advantage in the double rook endgame.

IM Soham Kamotra - GM Bartosz Socko (POL): 0.5-0.5

Rohith - Suyog

Position after 27.Kf1?

27.Kf1? was a mistake by India's latest GM S Rohith Krishna (2500). 27.Bf2 Nxb3 28.Qxb3 bxa5 would have been fine for White. 27...Na4 28. Qc2 Bxf3 would have given Black a decisive advantage. Instead, one of the newest IMs of India, Suyog Wagh (2400) went for 27...Nxb3 28.Qxb3 bxa5 and he went on to use his newly created passed on a5 to win the game.

Interview with IM Suyog Wagh | Video: ChessBase India

One of the newest IMs of India - Suyog Wagh got the better of India's 89th GM S Rohith Krishna

FM Aansh Nandan Nerurkar drew a back and forth battle against IM Shrioghlan Talibov (AZE)

GM Karthik Venkataraman repeated moves in a winning position allowing IM V S Raahul to escape with a draw | Photo: Dubai Chess & Culture Club

Senthil - Suleymenov

Position after 34...Re8

IM Senthil Maran K (2351) needed to play 35.Rb1 or Kg2 to maintain his decisive advantage against GM Alisher Suleymenov (KAZ, 2500). Instead, he opted for 35.Rd4 and the game meandered into a draw before getting another opportunity to do something similar, threaten to create a battery of rooks on the seventh rank.

IM Senthil Maran K could have won his game against GM Alisher Suleymenov (KAZ)

FM John Veny Akkarakaran got himself a good position against Poland's latest GM - Jakub Seemann. However, the game ended in a draw | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

FM Anirudhha Potawad did not let his opportunity slip by in a similar position as the first round as he defeated IM Vyom Vidyarthi (USA)

FM Dhruva Thota - IM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova (UZB): 0.5-0.5

IM Michael Concio Jr. (PHI) - FM Rajesh Nayak (pictured): 0-1

For more Round 2 photos, please click here.

Replay Round 2 games

Round 2 results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
2	3	78	IM	Kushagra Mohan	2408	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Hong Andrew	2580	7
2	5	80	IM	Soham Kamotra	2407	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Socko Bartosz	2574	9
2	7	82	IM	Sahakyan Aleks	2405	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2562	11
2	8	12	GM	Aditya Mittal	2560	1	1 - 0	1	IM	Makkar Rajat	2406	81
2	11	86	IM	Dixit Nikhil	2400	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Xue Haowen	2535	18
2	12	25	IM	Rohith Krishna S	2500	1	0 - 1	1	FM	Wagh Suyog	2400	87
2	13	92	IM	Aaditya Dhingra	2394	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Hardaway Brewington	2499	26
2	15	37	IM	Bronstein Or	2479	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi	2396	89
2	16	96	IM	Budhidharma Nayaka	2389	1	½ - ½	1	IM	Md Imran	2478	38
2	18	98	IM	Aradhya Garg	2386	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Jubin Jimmy	2464	41
2	19	43	GM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2458	1	1 - 0	1	FM	Aditya Vikram Paul	2394	93
2	20	102	IM	Panda Sambit	2379	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Siddharth Jagadeesh	2458	44
2	22	113	FM	Rosh Jain	2372	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2452	50
2	23	51	IM	Borgaonkar Akshay	2452	1	½ - ½	1	FM	Novozhilov Semen	2358	122
2	24	119	FM	Xie Felix	2364	1	1 - 0	1	IM	Mayank Chakraborty	2452	52
2	26	58	IM	Mohamed Anees M	2428	1	1 - 0	1	FM	Vaibhav Jayant Raut	2324	148
2	28	139	FM	Aansh Nandan Nerurkar	2335	1	½ - ½	1	IM	Talibov Shiroghlan	2420	63
2	30	66	IM	Ravi Teja S.	2417	1	0 - 1	1	FM	Putrenko Kirill	2314	158
2	31	159	IM	Ramoutar Alan-Safar	2313	1	0 - 1	1	IM	Sahib Singh	2416	67
2	33	70	IM	Goutham Krishna H	2414	1	1 - 0	1	FM	Ammar Sedrani	2187	200
2	37	103	FM	Ajay Santhosh Parvathareddy	2379	½	0 - 1	½	GM	Iniyan Pa	2586	5
2	38	14	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2556	½	½ - ½	½	IM	Raahul V S	2378	104
2	39	17	GM	Makhnev Denis	2540	½	1 - 0	½	IM	Viani Antonio Dcunha	2364	118
2	41	21	GM	Wan Yunguo	2501	½	1 - 0	½	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	2353	126
2	42	127	IM	Senthil Maran K	2351	½	½ - ½	½	GM	Suleymenov Alisher	2500	22

Details

Standings after Round 2

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	K	rtg+/-
1	41	IM	Jubin, Jimmy	IND	2464	2	0	2	0	10	3,9
2	50	IM	Anuj, Shrivatri	IND	2452	2	0	2	0	10	3,9
3	119	FM	Xie, Felix	NZL	2364	2	0	1	0	20	26
4	97	FM	Yadegar, Radin	IRI	2388	2	0	1	0	10	8,6
5	158	FM	Putrenko, Kirill	FID	2314	2	0	1	0	10	12,9
6	4	GM	Jacobson, Brandon	USA	2594	2	0	1	0	10	4,8
7	8	GM	Tin, Jingyao	SGP	2579	2	0	1	0	10	5,2
8	12	GM	Aditya, Mittal	IND	2560	2	0	1	0	10	5,5
9	16	GM	Stremavicius, Titas	LTU	2549	2	0	1	0	10	5,7
10	18	GM	Xue, Haowen	CHN	2535	2	0	1	0	10	5,9
11	26	GM	Hardaway, Brewington	USA	2499	2	0	1	0	10	6,7
12	44	GM	Siddharth, Jagadeesh	SGP	2458	2	0	1	0	10	7,2
13	53	IM	Aizenberg, Benny	ISR	2450	2	0	1	0	10	6,5
14	70	IM	Goutham, Krishna H	IND	2414	2	0	1	0	10	5,6
15	89	IM	Aakash Sharadchandra, Dalvi	IND	2396	2	0	1	0	20	18,6
16	15	GM	Zeng, Chongsheng	CHN	2553	2	0	1	0	10	5,6
17	39	IM	Stribuk, Artiom	FID	2474	2	0	1	0	10	7,1
18	59	FM	Ashraf, Artin	IRI	2428	2	0	1	0	10	7,4
19	78	IM	Kushagra, Mohan	IND	2408	2	0	1	0	10	10,8
20	87	FM	Wagh, Suyog	IND	2400	2	0	1	0	10	9,5
21	6	GM	Lazavik, Denis	BLR	2584	2	0	1	0	10	5,1
22	10	GM	Gorshtein, Ido	ISR	2571	2	0	1	0	10	5,3
23	43	GM	Prraneeth, Vuppala	IND	2458	2	0	1	0	10	7,4
24	36	IM	Bazakutsa, Svyatoslav	UKR	2481	2	0	1	0	10	6,9
25	58	IM	Mohamed, Anees M	IND	2428	2	0	1	0	10	7,1

Details

Round 3 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
3	3	50	IM	Anuj Shrivatri	2452	2	2	GM	Tin Jingyao	2579	8
3	5	67	IM	Sahib Singh	2416	2	2	GM	Aditya Mittal	2560	12
3	6	15	GM	Zeng Chongsheng	2553	2	2	IM	Mohamed Anees M	2428	58
3	7	87	FM	Wagh Suyog	2400	2	2	GM	Stremavicius Titas	2549	16
3	9	26	GM	Hardaway Brewington	2499	2	2	IM	Goutham Krishna H	2414	70
3	10	36	IM	Bazakutsa Svyatoslav	2481	2	2	IM	Kushagra Mohan	2408	78
3	11	89	IM	Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi	2396	2	2	IM	Stribuk Artiom	2474	39
3	12	41	IM	Jubin Jimmy	2464	2	2	FM	Xie Felix	2364	119
3	13	97	FM	Yadegar Radin	2388	2	2	GM	Prraneeth Vuppala	2458	43
3	16	5	GM	Iniyan Pa	2586	1½	1½	IM	Agasarov Benik	2408	76
3	18	11	GM	Bharath Subramaniyam H	2562	1½	1½	IM	Soham Kamotra	2407	80
3	19	57	IM	Audi Ameya	2428	1½	1½	GM	Makhnev Denis	2540	17
3	21	85	IM	Shahil Dey	2401	1½	1½	GM	Wan Yunguo	2501	21
3	22	95		Lad Mandar Pradip	2390	1½	1½	IM	Khubukshanov Erdem	2489	29
3	24	122	FM	Novozhilov Semen	2358	1½	1½	IM	Nitish Belurkar	2486	31
3	25	160	FM	Karimov Alisher	2312	1½	1½	GM	Srihari L R	2482	35
3	26	38	IM	Md Imran	2478	1½	1½	FM	Aansh Nandan Nerurkar	2335	139
3	28	175	FM	Potawad Anirudhha	2301	1½	1½	IM	Borgaonkar Akshay	2452	51
3	29	55		Vignesh Advaith Vemula	2441	1½	1½	IM	Setyaki Azarya Jodi	2331	141
3	30	189	FM	Bagwe Gaurang	2259	1½	1	GM	Grebnev Aleksey	2595	3
3	31	7	GM	Hong Andrew	2580	1	1	IM	Dushyant Sharma	2376	105
3	32	108	IM	Vantika Agrawal	2375	1	1	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2556	14
3	35	24	IM	Materia Marco	2500	1	1	FM	Rosh Jain	2372	113
3	36	112	IM	Gasparyan Erik R.	2372	1	1	IM	Rohith Krishna S	2500	25
3	39	32	IM	Rathanvel V S	2486	1	1	FM	Paszewski Mateusz	2360	121

Details

Links

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