Aravindh Chithambaram’s story is one of creative, big-stage results rather than a single immortal game — so we’ll walk through his most important wins and title runs in prose, focusing on the verified results and what made each special, rather than reconstructing move-by-move scores we can’t confirm. If you want to replay the actual moves, the best sources are his Chess.com player page and public game databases.
1. Chennai Grandmaster International Open 2013 — the breakout
Long before the elite invitations, a 13-year-old Aravindh served notice at the 2013 Chennai Grandmaster International Open. He scored a sensational 9/11, defeating four grandmasters (and a couple of international masters) along the way, for a performance rating well above 2700. For a boy who had learned the game from his grandfather barely six years earlier, beating a room full of titled players was the moment the wider chess world first wrote down his name. It remains one of the great teenage open-tournament results by an Indian player, and it set the tone for everything that followed.
2. Chennai Grand Masters 2024 — a hometown triumph on tiebreak
More than a decade later, Aravindh returned to Chennai for the 2024 Chennai Grand Masters — and it became the defining win of his career to that point. In a strong closed field, three players finished level at the top on 4.5 points each: Aravindh, the vastly experienced Levon Aronian, and his compatriot Arjun Erigaisi, then flirting with the world’s top five.
The tiebreak order mattered. Because Aravindh had beaten Arjun in their individual game, he topped the standings and earned a direct route to the final, where he faced Aronian. There, Aravindh was ruthless, taking the blitz tiebreak match 2-0 to lift the trophy. Winning an elite round-robin at essentially his first attempt — in his home city, over a former world No. 2 and a 2800-rated rival — was a statement, and it carried him across the 2700 rating barrier for the first time.
3. Prague Masters 2025 — an undefeated title run
If Chennai proved he belonged, the 2025 Prague Masters (the Masters section of the Prague International Chess Festival) proved it was no fluke. Against another elite closed field, Aravindh went the entire event undefeated, scoring 6/9 to win the tournament by a full point with a performance rating around 2829. Along the way he produced some of his most admired attacking chess — including a much-praised win over the ever-solid Anish Giri — and the result rocketed him up the live rankings, briefly into the world’s top 15.
Here’s the remarkable part: at that stage, the two elite closed super-tournaments Aravindh had ever played — Chennai 2024 and Prague 2025 — he had both won. Very few players can say their record in that rarefied company is unbeaten in the title race.
4. Stepan Avagyan Memorial 2025 — beating a golden-generation rival
The winning didn’t stop in Prague. In June 2025, Aravindh took the Stepan Avagyan Memorial with 6.5/9, edging out none other than Praggnanandhaa on tiebreak. Coming out on top of a field that included one of the very best of his own generation underlined that his 2024–25 surge was the real thing — not a one-tournament hot streak, but a sustained leap into the elite.
Why these games matter
Step back and a clear pattern emerges. Aravindh’s signature results aren’t grind-it-out points against weaker players — they’re titles won by out-creating strong opposition. He beats grandmasters as a teenager, wins his home super-tournament over a 2800 and a former world No. 2, then runs the table undefeated in Prague. He tends to do it with imaginative, fighting chess: offbeat openings to dodge preparation, a willingness to attack, and the nerve to press for a win when a draw is on offer.
Want to understand how he pulls it off? See Aravindh’s playing style for the strengths behind the scoreboard, or dig into his openings to see the creative systems he trusts under pressure. The numbers side of the story is in his rating history.
FAQ
What is Aravindh Chithambaram’s most famous result? Most fans point to the 2024 Chennai Grand Masters, which he won on tiebreak over Levon Aronian and Arjun Erigaisi in his home city — the win that first pushed him past 2700.
Has Aravindh won an elite super-tournament? Yes — twice. He won the 2024 Chennai Grand Masters and then the 2025 Prague Masters, going undefeated in Prague with a 6/9 score and a ~2829 performance.
Did Aravindh really beat both Aronian and Arjun Erigaisi in Chennai? He finished ahead of both in the three-way tie for first (a head-to-head win over Arjun topped the standings), then beat Aronian 2-0 in the blitz tiebreak final to take the title.
How strong was his Prague Masters performance? Elite: undefeated across nine rounds, winning by a full point with a performance rating around 2829 — among the best classical results of his career.
Keep exploring
Back to the Aravindh Chithambaram profile · his playing style · his openings · his rating history · or browse all chess players.
Written and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Facts verified against Wikipedia, his FIDE profile, and Chess.com, as of July 2026 · Last verified 2026-07-10 · How we verify content.