Shubh and Avika are the Madhya Pradesh State Junior Chess Champions

by Niklesh Jain - 22/08/2026

Madhya Pradesh has its new Junior Chess Champions for 2026. Gwalior’s Shubh Khatri won the Open U19 title, while Indore’s Avika Panwar clinched the Girls U19 title at the Madhya Pradesh State Junior Chess Championship held in Bhopal. Khelo Chess India Club and ChessBase India, in association with the Bhopal District Chess Association, organised the event. This was the first time that the Madhya Pradesh Junior Championship was conducted as an international rating tournament, with a total prize fund of ₹1,00,000, the highest-ever prize fund for a junior-level tournament in the state. The successful organisation of the event was made possible with the special support of Chola Chess.

MP State Junior 2026: Shubh and Avika win the titles

The Madhya Pradesh Junior Chess Team selection process concluded with an eight-round international rating tournament held at Khelo Chess India Club, located at Sage International School, Bhopal. After intense competition among players from different districts of the state, Gwalior’s Shubh Khatri and Indore’s Avika Panwar emerged as the champions in the Open and Girls sections respectively. The top four players in both the Open and Girls sections have been selected to represent Madhya Pradesh at the National Junior Chess Championship 2026, scheduled to be held in West Bengal from 27 October to 4 November.

In the Open section, Gwalior’s Shubh Khatri and Piyush Tandon finished with 7 points each and shared the top score, with Shubh Khatri taking first place on tiebreak.

Shubh moved a step closer to winning the State Junior title after defeating Rudraksh in the 7th round.

Gwalior’s Jatin Malkhani and Katni’s Atharva Palta scored 6½ points each to finish third and fourth respectively. Thus, the four Open players selected for the National Junior Championship are Shubh Khatri, Piyush Tandon, Jatin Malkhani and Atharva Palta.

The game between Atharva Palta and Darshil Iyer in the fourth round caught everyone’s attention.

Among the top 10 players in the Open section, Vidisha’s Aaradhya Gupta finished fifth, Dhar’s Darsho Atharva sixth, Bhopal’s Medant Jain seventh, Bhopal’s Avish Vishal Shinde eighth, Indore’s Preet Pal ninth and Shahdol’s Saransh Tiwari tenth. All six players scored 6 points. Bhopal’s Arnav B Kumar and Aaradhya Khandwe also scored 6 points and finished 11th and 12th respectively. Bhopal’s Rudraditya Singh Sisodia scored 6 points to finish 13th, while Gwalior’s Rudraksh Garg finished 14th with 5½ points.

In the Girls section, Indore’s Avika Panwar scored 6 points to finish first. Gwalior’s Manya Bansal and Bhopal’s Peehu Jain scored 5½ points each to finish second and third respectively.

Jabalpur’s Avni Shukla finished fourth with 5½ points. These four players have been selected to represent Madhya Pradesh at the National Junior Chess Championship. Hoshangabad’s Aditi Yadav and Bhopal’s Navya Verma scored 5 points each to finish fifth and sixth respectively.

A special feature of the championship was that the Madhya Pradesh Junior Team selection event was conducted as a FIDE-rated tournament, giving the players experience in classical chess under conditions similar to the National Championship. The time control was 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment from move one.

The games from the top boards were also broadcast live. This was the first time that a Madhya Pradesh State Junior Championship featured a ₹1,00,000 prize fund as well as live broadcasting of the games.

Thank you, Chola Chess: Under the Khelo Chess India initiative, this was the 86th event organised since January 2023. We are grateful to Chola Chess for supporting our effort to make this initiative better and provide a stronger platform for the next generation. Their support has strengthened our chess initiative not only in Madhya Pradesh but across Central India. The result is that, for the first time in the history of Madhya Pradesh chess, we were able to organise a Junior Championship with the state’s biggest-ever prize fund of ₹1,00,000.

Thank you, DGT: Several recent events organised under Khelo Chess India have been broadcast online using DGT boards, and we have received valuable support from DGT. We are extremely thankful to them as well. Watching young players compete and play their games on DGT boards is truly inspiring.

Prashant Jain unveils the championship trophies

The tournament began on 15 August, Independence Day. On the occasion, Prashant Jain, VCM of Sage International Group, one of our long-standing supporters, unveiled the winner’s trophies. Sage International School has been one of the strongest partners of Khelo Chess India and an important part of this journey.

Anuj, Ayush and Madhvendra make the first move

Anuj Shrivatri, Ayush Sharma and Madhvendra Pratap Sharma are not only the top three players of Madhya Pradesh but are also three players who have the potential to become Grandmasters in the future. All three players made the ceremonial first move on the opening day of the championship.

Closing ceremony: Focus now shifts to the National Championship

At the closing ceremony, Subodh Shrivastava, GM Industries Department, IA Kapil Saxena, Chairman of the Organising Committee, IA Yashpal Arora, Chief Arbiter, FIDE Trainer Niklesh Jain, Tournament Director, Swati Dubey, Headmistress, Sage School, and Shankar Murti, Organising Committee Member, were present.

During the tournament, Shivani Zutshi, Naman Shrivastava, Shreshth Singh Tomar, Khan Zafar and Nitin Raghuvanshi were awarded their FIDE Arbiter Norms. Ankur Thakur and Ayush Jain served as Deputy Arbiters.

The championship provided the emerging junior players of Madhya Pradesh with valuable competitive experience. The selected eight players will now represent Madhya Pradesh at the National Junior Chess Championship 2026.

All games played on the first four boards were broadcast live, courtesy of DGT.

Final Ranking after 8 Rounds

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1		Shubh, Khatri		IND	1809	Gwalior	7	40,5	47,5	37,5
2	12		Piyush, Tandon		IND	1621	Gwalior	7	37,5	40,5	34,75
3	33		Jatin, Malkani		IND	1486	Gwalior	6,5	42,5	44,5	34,25
4	2		Atharv, Palta		IND	1782	Katni	6,5	41	44	35
5	9		Aradhy, Gupta		IND	1641	Vidisha	6,5	38,5	42,5	32,5
6	24	AIM	Dashora, Atharva		IND	1518	Dhar	6,5	37	40	31,25
7	6		Jain, Medant		IND	1649	Bhopal	6	39,5	44	31,5
8	18	AFM	Avish, Vishal Shinde		IND	1579	Bhopal	6	38,5	42	28
9	14		Preet, Pal		IND	1597	Indore	6	38	44	29,25
10	17		Saransh, Tiwari		IND	1581	Shahdol	6	37,5	37,5	25
11	3		Arnav, B Kumar		IND	1724	Bhopal	6	37	39	26,75
12	7		Khandwe, Aaradhya		IND	1645	Bhopal	6	36,5	39,5	27,5
13	22		Rudraditya, Singh Sisodiya		IND	1524	Indore	6	36	41,5	25,5
14	10		Avika, Panwar	w	IND	1631	Indore	6	36	40	28
15	5	AFM	Rudraksh, Garg		IND	1664	Gwalior	5,5	41,5	46,5	29,75
16	8		Ram, Gupta		IND	1644	Damoh	5,5	38,5	41,5	26
17	13	AGM	Darshil, Iyer		IND	1619	Indore	5,5	37,5	43	25,5
18	26		Raghav, Singh		IND	1517	Bhopal	5,5	37	40	25,5
19	23		Manya, Bansal	w	IND	1519	Gwalior	5,5	36	41,5	23,25
20	155		Yash, Pachori		IND	0	Harda	5,5	35	40,5	24,75
21	30		Swarit, Rathore		IND	1504	Khandwa	5,5	34	37	22,5
22	32		Tanishq, Trivedi		IND	1492	Indore	5,5	33,5	38	22,25
23	43		Peehu, Jain	w	IND	1433	Bhopal	5,5	33,5	36,5	21
24	11		Praneet, Chorghade		IND	1629	Bhopal	5,5	33,5	35,5	21,25
25	16		Ayush, Pandey		IND	1583	Bhopal	5,5	33	38	22,5
26	71		Avni, Shukla	w	IND	0	Jabalpur	5,5	31	34	21
27	28		Aryan, Purwar		IND	1514	Katni	5	37,5	41	23
28	52		Aksh, Sharma		IND	0	Indore	5	37	40	23
29	41		Arnav, Pawar		IND	1438	Indore	5	36	38	21
30	34		Abhiraj, Singh Tomar		IND	1476	Morena	5	34,5	38,5	22,25
31	25		Diptansh, Kumar		IND	1517	Bhopal	5	34,5	36,5	18
32	99		Jha, Sarthak		IND	0	Bhopal	5	34	38	22
33	51		Akarshit, Sharma		IND	0	Shivpuri	5	34	37	20,25
34	153		Vishwakarma, Suraj		IND	0	Bhopal	5	33	36	20,5
35	20		Satyarth, Sharma		IND	1528	Katni	5	32,5	36,5	18,5
36	124		Romit, Norbert Pandro		IND	0	Bhopal	5	32,5	35,5	20
37	145		Tanishq, Mehtab		IND	0	Bhopal	5	32,5	35,5	19,5
38	46		Aditi, Yadav	w	IND	0	Hoshangabad	5	32	35,5	20,5
39	112		Navya, Verma	w	IND	0	Bhopal	5	31,5	35,5	21,25
40	68		Arsh, Arora		IND	0	Sagar	5	31,5	34,5	19
41	40		Madhvi, Thakur	w	IND	1440	Bhopal	5	30,5	33,5	18,75
42	114		Ojha, Naina	w	IND	0	Bhind	5	30,5	33	18
43	79		Chopde, Varchasva		IND	0	Bhopal	5	29	33,5	14,5
44	37	AFM	Swasti, Chauhan	w	IND	1448	Gwalior	5	29	31	17
45	64		Anshuman, Pal		IND	0	Indore	5	29	30,5	14
46	62		Anay, Chaturvedi		IND	0	Bhopal	5	28	30,5	16,5
47	152		Viaan, Sharma		IND	0	Bhopal	5	28	28	17
48	31		Aryansh, Rathore		IND	1502	Bhopal	5	27,5	30	18,75
49	82		Devansh, Thakur		IND	0	Sagar	5	25,5	30	15,5
50	135		Shauryansh, Singh Katharria		IND	0	Jabalpur	4,5	34,5	36	15,25
51	148		Vaibhav, Sahu (Sagar)		IND	0	Sagar	4,5	32	35	18,5
52	42		Aadvick, Mittal		IND	1436	Gwalior	4,5	31,5	35	17,5
53	125		Sahaj, Solanki		IND	0	Indore	4,5	30	33	15
54	134		Sharma, Vedic		IND	0	Bhopal	4,5	29	31,5	14,25
55	81		Daksh, Baveja		IND	0	Bhopal	4,5	29	31	15,5
56	150		Vedant, Shrivastava		IND	0	Bhopal	4,5	28,5	30,5	13,5
57	144		Srivastava, Atharv		IND	0	Gwalior	4,5	27	29	13
58	83		Devara, Krishna Pavan		IND	0	bhopal	4,5	26,5	31	14
59	143		Srajan, Pathak		IND	0	Hoshangabad	4	34	38	17,5
60	131		Shaiv, Abeer		IND	0	Bhopal	4	34	38	15,5
61	61		Anant, Dubey		IND	0	Bhopal	4	34	38	15
62	127		Samarth, Verma		IND	0	Indore	4	34	37	18,5
63	117		Prabal, Patkar		IND	0	Jabalpur	4	33,5	37,5	16,75
64	38		Abhiditya, Jain		IND	1446	Sagar	4	33	36	15
65	113		Nigam, Satvik		IND	0	Satna	4	33	35	13
66	44		Avyukt, Vishwakarma		IND	1401	Jabalpur	4	32,5	35,5	14,75
67	118		Pranav, Gangil		IND	0	Bhopal	4	32,5	34,5	15
68	107		Malviya, Vedant kumar		IND	0	Hoshangabad	4	31,5	33	12,5
69	149		Vasdeo, Adwik		IND	0	Gwalior	4	31	34	14,75
70	105		Maan, Dangi		IND	0	Vidisha	4	31	34	12,75
71	4		Daksh, Abhishek Jain		IND	1664	Bhopal	4	31	33	14
72	65		Anubhav, Shukla		IND	0	Jabalpur	4	30,5	32,5	11
73	36		Mani, Arjun		IND	1452	Bhopal	4	30	33	14,75
74	67		Anwesha, Mishra	w	IND	0	Jabalpur	4	29,5	32,5	14,5
75	84		Disha, Dangi	w	IND	0	Vidisha	4	29,5	32	11,5
76	21		Anushka, Verma	w	IND	1527	Dewas	4	29,5	32	10,5
77	29		Mimrot, Anushree	w	IND	1510	Indore	4	29,5	31,5	13,75
78	86		Dongre, Himanshu		IND	0	Bhopal	4	29,5	31,5	11,5
79	138		Shourya, Lahoti		IND	0	Bhopal	4	29	32	14
80	121		Ramam, Awasthi		IND	0	Sehore	4	29	32	13,75
81	59		Amay, Agrwal		IND	0	Bhopal	4	28,5	31,5	14,5
82	126		Sahu, Arnav		IND	0	AICF Due	4	28	31,5	12,5
83	87		Dubey, Aarin		IND	0	Bhopal	4	27	28,5	9,5
84	76		Chauhan, Sarthak Singh		IND	0	Ujjain	4	26	28	12,75
85	115		Pari, Chourey	w	IND	0	Raisen	4	25	27,5	9,5
86	74		Chaitanya, Pandey		IND	0	Bhopal	4	23,5	27,5	12
87	120		Raghuwanshi, Ram		IND	0	Bhopal	4	23,5	25	9,5
88	66		Anvi, Gupta	w	IND	0	Vidisha	4	22,5	24	9,5
89	109		Meena, Pragnay		IND	0	Bhopal	3,5	32	36	14,5
90	69		Arya, Om		IND	0	Bhopal	3,5	27,5	30	11,25
91	106		Malviya, Anurag		IND	0	Bhopal	3,5	27	29	10
92	108		Mathur, Swara	w	IND	0	Singraulli	3,5	24,5	26	7,25
93	146		Tarkshya, Soni		IND	0	Umaria	3,5	23,5	25,5	9
94	50		Ainesh, Upadhyay		IND	0	Bhopal	3	31,5	34,5	11
95	15		Ranak, Chourasia		IND	1587	Bhopal	3	31	34	10,5
96	129	ACM	Sanidhya, Khachane		IND	0	Bhopal	3	31	34	10,5
97	137		Shoaib, Hussain Morena		IND	0	Morena	3	30,5	32,5	8
98	136	ACM	Shivansh, Singh Thakur		IND	0	Hoshangabad	3	30	33	12
99	85		Divyansh, Dangi		IND	0	Vidisha	3	29	31	7,5
100	49		Ahan, Amrawanshi		IND	0	JABALPUR	3	28,5	31,5	11,75
101	123		Riyansh, Chrawonde		IND	0	JHABUA	3	28	31	10
102	104		Kundu, Ayaan		IND	0	Bhopal	3	27,5	29,5	8
103	53		Akshay, Bhatt		IND	0	Satna	3	27,5	29,5	8
104	47		Advika, Rathore	w	IND	0	Bhopal	3	27	30	9,5
105	63		Anayra, Rathore	w	IND	0	Bhopal	3	26	28	9
106	122		Rathore, Ananya	w	IND	0	Gwalior	3	26	28	8
107	89		Dubey, Arpit		IND	0	Katni	3	26	27,5	6,25
108	154		Wagadre, Vivek		IND	0	Bhopal	3	25,5	27,5	8
109	130		Saransh, Pal		IND	0	Bhopal	3	25	27	9
110	96		Ishant, Sharma		IND	0	Bhopal	3	24,5	27,5	6,5
111	128		Samruddhi, Sethi	w	IND	0	Bhopal	3	23	25	7
112	102		Khan, Tuba		IND	0	Bhopal	3	22,5	24	6,5
113	116		Paul, Shanaya	w	IND	0	Bhopal	3	22	23	4,5
114	60		Amayra, Khan	w	IND	0	Sagar	3	22	22	5,5
115	132		Sharma, Aayansh		IND	0	Bhopal	3	21,5	23,5	6,75
116	45		Aarohi, Dubey	w	IND	0	bhopal	3	21,5	23,5	6,5
117	72		Bhadauriya, Ishika Singh	w	IND	0	Indore	3	21	23	6
118	93		Gupta, Tanishq		IND	0	BHOPAL	3	21	22,5	6,5
119	151		Vedik, Bisaria		IND	0	Bhopal	2,5	28	30,5	10
120	57		Alok, Raghuwanshi		IND	0	Chhindwara	2,5	27,5	30	7,25
121	55		Ali, Haider		IND	0	Bhopal	2,5	27,5	29,5	6,5
122	111		Mittal, Aavya	w	IND	0	Gwalior	2	29,5	31	4,5
123	119		Prashanth, Praneel		IND	0	Bhopal	2	29	32	6,5
124	80		Daivik, Mathur		IND	0	AICF Due	2	26,5	28,5	5
125	75		Chaturvedi, Sahitya		IND	0	BHOPAL	2	26	28	8
126	88		Dubey, Anukool		IND	0	Vidisha	2	25,5	27,5	4,5
127	97		Jain, Aarjav		IND	0	Harda	2	25	27	7
128	73		Bhatt, Rochak		IND	0	Satna	2	23	25	2
129	147		Tiwari, Devansh		IND	0	Katni	2	22	24	3
130	103		Kshaunish, Dubey		IND	0	Bhopal	2	21	23	3
131	77		Chaurasia, Gaurvi	w	IND	0	Bhopal	2	21	23	2
132	142		Soni, Rohil		IND	0	Hoshangabad	2	20,5	21,5	3
133	140		Singh, Harsh Pratap		IND	0	Bhopal	2	20,5	20,5	1,75
134	56		Ali, Liba	w	IND	0	Bhopal	1,5	21,5	22,5	2
135	58		Amaan, Usmani		IND	0	Bhopal	1	22,5	23,5	3
136	141		Singh, Ragini	w	IND	0	Bhopal	1	21	22	1
137	133		Sharma, Vaidik		IND	0	VIdisha	1	16	17	1,5
138	70		Ausaf, Zaidan		IND	0	Bhopal	1	14	15	2
139	92		Gupta, Shivoham		IND	0	bhopal	1	13,5	14,5	0
140	95		Ingle, Medant		IND	0	Bhopal	0	17	17	0
141	139		Shukla, Aakriti	w	IND	0	Bhopal	0	8	8	0
142	19		Lakshya, Tanwani		IND	1532	Indore	0	0	0	0
143	27	AFM	Darsh, Goyal		IND	1516	Indore	0	0	0	0
144	35		Marc, Reuben Toppo		IND	1471	Bhopal	0	0	0	0
145	39		Raghav, Dwivedi		IND	1444	Indore	0	0	0	0
146	48		Agrima, Patidar	w	IND	0	Dhamnod	0	0	0	0
147	54		Akshit, Singh		IND	0	Tikamgarh	0	0	0	0
148	78		Cheema, Manvir Singh		IND	0	Hosangabad	0	0	0	0
149	90		Dubey, Mohit		IND	0	Sohagpur	0	0	0	0
150	91		Goel, Yana	w	IND	0	Bhopal	0	0	0	0
151	94		Hemashra, Motiani		IND	0	Bhopal	0	0	0	0
152	98		Jain, Jishna	w	IND	0	Bhopal	0	0	0	0
153	100		Joshi, Akshat		IND	0	Bhopal	0	0	0	0
154	101		Kaur, Naira	w	IND	0	Hosangabad	0	0	0	0
155	110		Meghana, Singh	w	IND	0	Chhindwara	0	0	0	0