2025 Carolinas Classic - Championship

SwissStandard

68 players participated in this 5-round tournament, held from 13 Jun 2025 to 15 Jun 2025 in Charlotte, NC, United States. 22 titled players from 8 federations. Top 10 Elo average was 2331, and top seed was Cristhian Cruz (🇵🇪 PER, GM, 2488).

Josiah Stearman (🇺🇸 USA, IM, 2448) won with 4.5/5, ahead of Vedic Panda (4.5) and Sudarshan Sriniaiyer (4.0). Stearman shared the lead from round 1, winning on tie-break.

The biggest upset came in round 1: Sophie Li (WFM, 1879) beat Facundo Pierrot (IM, 2253), a +374-point gap.

Location

🇺🇸Charlotte, NC, United States

Dates

13 Jun 2025 → 15 Jun 2025

Time control

Standard: 110 minutes for game with 10 sec increment from move 1

System

Swiss · 5 rounds

Top seed

🇵🇪GMCristhian Cruz2488

Avg top 10

2,331

Participants

Titled players · 22

GM×3

IM×4

FM×9

CM×4

WFM×2

Federations · 8 represented

🇺🇸United States of America×59

🇨🇴Colombia×1

🇨🇦Canada×1

🇨🇳China×1

🇦🇷Argentina×1

🇻🇪Venezuela×1

FIDE (no federation)×1

🇵🇪Peru×1

Top 3

🥇
IMJosiah Stearman
🇺🇸USA·2448
4.5pts·2524perf+3.0
🥈
Vedic Panda
🇺🇸USA·2124
4.5pts·2439perf+34.0
🥉
FMSudarshan Sriniaiyer
🇺🇸USA·2182
4.0pts·2448perf+33.4

How it unfolded

Top 6 · 5 rounds

Tight race until R4; 2 players tied at 4.5/5, decided on Buchholz.

Co-leaders

Stearman4.5Panda4.5Pierrot4Sriniaiyer4Cruz4Wang4

R4–R5 · LEAD HELD

IM Josiah Stearman held the sole lead from R4 through R5 without losing it.

R5 · TIEBREAK CLUSTER

2 players finish on 4.5/5. Stearman takes the title on Buchholz Cut1 (12.5).

WIN STREAKS · 3 top finishers

IM Josiah Stearman 4 wins (R1–R4)Vedic Panda 4 wins (R2–R5)IM Facundo Pierrot 4 wins (R2–R5)

Key matchups · top 4

Head-to-head between the four finishers

Player	1	2	3	4
1IMJosiah Stearman	*	—	—	½
2Vedic Panda	—	*	—	—
3IMFacundo Pierrot	—	—	*	—
4FMSudarshan Sriniaiyer	½	—	—	*

Grille américaine

#	Player	Elo	Fed	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts	Bu C1	Bu	SB	Perf	Δ
1	Stearman, JosiahIM	2448	USA	+43N	+18B	+56N	+10B	=3N	4.5	12.5	13.5	11.50	2524	+3.0
2	Panda, Vedic	2124	USA	=47B	+14N	+57B	+23N	+9B	4.5	10.5	11.5	10.75	2439	+34.0
3	Sriniaiyer, SudarshanFM	2182	USA	+26N	+34B	+8N	=4N	=1B	4.0	14.5	16.5	12.25	2448	+33.4
4	Wang, TianqiIM	2353	USA	+49N	+6B	+31N	=3B	=8N	4.0	13.5	15.0	11.25	2405	+3.1
5	Cruz, CristhianGM	2488	PER	+17B	=15N	+29B	=9N	+16B	4.0	12.5	15.0	11.75	2379	-4.3
6	Liu, Ethan	2090	USA	+66B	−4N	+61B	+30N	+31B	4.0	9.0	9.0	5.00	2275	+45.6
7	Pierrot, FacundoIM	2253	ARG	−30N	+32N	+49B	+46B	+56N	4.0	7.5	8.5	6.50	2252	+0.8
8	Vanapalli, VishnuFM	2287	USA	+38B	+13N	−3B	+17N	=4B	3.5	14.5	16.5	10.50	2235	-3.2
9	Jiang, AndrewFM	2242	USA	+35B	+48N	+11N	=5B	−2N	3.5	14.0	15.5	9.00	2291	+8.8
10	Chirilov, James AFM	2218	USA	+58B	+19N	+30B	−1N	=28B	3.5	12.0	13.0	7.25	2258	+8.4
11	Zapata, AlonsoGM	2267	COL	+51B	+39N	−9B	=13N	+23B	3.5	11.5	13.0	7.75	2183	-3.5
12	Fishbein, AlexanderGM	2383	USA	+27B	=23N	+15B	−16N	+25B	3.5	11.0	13.5	9.25	2264	-6.2
13	DeDona, Mark	1938	USA	+24N	−8B	+52N	=11B	+57B	3.5	11.0	12.0	6.75	2279	+42.0
14	Kumar, Sanjay	1862	USA	=20N	−2B	+41N	=18B	+33N	3.0	12.5	14.5	7.00	2097	+59.6
15	Pagan, Jonathan	2171	USA	+64N	=5B	−12N	+53B	=19N	3.0	12.0	12.5	5.50	2222	+6.8
16	Golsefidy, Sepehr	2080	USA	+42N	−30B	+34N	+12B	−5N	3.0	11.5	13.5	7.50	2221	+32.0
17	Ni, Beiyang	1962	USA	−5N	+35B	+37N	−8B	+32N	3.0	11.5	13.5	6.00	2133	+40.0
18	Zhao, KevinFM	2186	USA	+60B	−1N	=38B	=14N	+40B	3.0	11.5	12.5	5.50	2114	-15.2
19	Pan, Zachary	2026	USA	+59B	−10B	+45N	=25N	=15B	3.0	11.0	12.0	5.75	2158	+35.2
20	Fang, Thomas	2031	USA	=14B	+47N	−23B	=38N	+30B	3.0	9.5	11.0	6.00	2024	-0.4
21	Moorhouse, Will	2001	USA	+41N	−31B	=24N	=32B	+36N	3.0	8.5	10.5	6.25	2031	+8.0
22	Crump, Alexander J	2108	USA	=52N	+37B	=33N	F	+48B	3.0	7.0	7.0	5.25	2065	-3.2
23	Suich, Peter D	2105	USA	+45N	=12B	+20N	−2B	−11N	2.5	14.5	16.5	6.75	2156	+11.6
24	Monroy Lopez, Gustavo AdolfoCM	1961	GUA	−13B	+40N	=21B	=44N	=27B	2.5	11.0	13.0	5.75	2009	+13.6
25	Gadi, Varun	2156	USA	=50N	=36B	+26N	=19B	−12N	2.5	11.0	12.5	5.75	2036	-30.4
26	Zhang, Glenn	1932	USA	−3B	+62N	−25B	+65N	=44B	2.5	9.5	10.0	2.50	2023	+22.4
27	Cavanah, Troy	2062	USA	−12N	+42B	+59N	−56B	=24N	2.5	9.0	10.0	4.25	2078	+2.0
28	Mendes Aaron ReeveIM	2335	CAN	−34N	F	+50N	+33B	=10N	2.5	9.0	9.0	5.25	2130	-16.8
29	Copeland, Samuel	2104	USA	=36N	+67B	−5N	+50B	F	2.5	7.5	7.5	2.50	2162	+4.2
30	Li, SophieWFM	1879	USA	+7B	+16N	−10N	−6B	−20N	2.0	14.5	17.5	7.00	2062	+40.4
31	Wu, Andrew	2178	USA	+40B	+21N	−4B	F	−6N	2.0	13.0	13.0	5.00	2103	-15.6
32	Katta, Sriansh	1931	USA	=33N	−7B	+58B	=21N	−17B	2.0	12.0	13.0	3.50	1936	-1.6
33	Krotov, Damian	1967	FID	=32B	+54N	=22B	−28N	−14B	2.0	10.5	12.0	4.00	1952	-8.4
34	Talwalkar, VedantFM	2021	USA	+28B	−3N	−16B	=61N	=59B	2.0	10.5	11.5	3.50	2009	-6.8
35	Rallabandi, Krishna Kishore	1968	USA	−9N	−17N	+68B	=39B	=41N	2.0	10.5	10.5	2.00	1903	-19.6
36	Vuyyuru, Shriyan	1908	USA	=29B	=25N	+39B	−57N	−21B	2.0	10.0	11.0	4.50	2030	+28.4
37	Kondabathini, Namish	1759	USA	+44B	−22N	−17B	−40N	+60B	2.0	10.0	11.0	3.00	1939	+41.2
38	Dinesh, Abinav	1993	USA	−8N	+64B	=18N	=20B	F	2.0	10.0	10.0	3.50	2109	+22.8
39	Mulay, Vivan PrakashFM	2019	USA	+62B	−11B	−36N	=35N	=42B	2.0	9.5	10.5	3.00	1929	-26.0
40	Carrasco, Christian Nelio	1966	USA	−31N	−24B	+64N	+37B	−18N	2.0	9.5	10.0	2.50	1931	-11.2
41	Jani, Aakash	1819	USA	−21B	=58N	−14B	+64N	=35B	2.0	9.0	9.5	2.00	1852	+8.4
42	Chu, Alex HaoningFM	1980	USA	−16B	−27N	+66B	=49N	=39N	2.0	9.0	9.0	1.75	1952	-8.4
43	Xu, ShawnCM	1923	USA	−1B	=60N	+54B	−48N	=61B	2.0	8.5	9.5	2.50	1908	-9.6
44	Santosh, Saharsh	2078	USA	−37N	F	+47N	=24B	=26N	2.0	8.5	8.5	4.00	1894	-37.2
45	Chong, Hanford	1974	USA	−23B	+51N	−19B	+58N	F	2.0	8.0	8.0	2.50	1950	-5.2
46	Bondalapati, Sri Vibhav	2010	USA	F	F	+65B	−7N	+62B	2.0	5.5	5.5	1.50	2110	+14.8
47	Yu, Tianxiang Carlos	1923	CHN	=2N	−20B	−44B	=60N	=51N	1.5	11.0	12.0	3.50	1848	-20.4
48	Murugan Ayyappan, Adhiraiyan	1861	USA	F	−9B	=53N	+43B	−22N	1.5	10.0	10.0	2.75	1961	+15.6
49	Kurup, Siddharth	2087	USA	−4B	+66N	−7N	=42B	F	1.5	10.0	10.0	1.00	2028	-14.8
50	Gu, Samuel	1930	USA	=25B	+55N	−28B	−29N	−53N	1.5	9.0	10.5	2.75	1919	-8.4
51	Campbell, Maxwell	1811	USA	−11N	−45B	+60B	−62N	=47B	1.5	8.0	9.0	1.75	1837	+2.4
52	LeBakken, Lukas WCM	1901	USA	=22B	=65N	−13B	=59N	F	1.5	8.0	8.0	2.25	1858	-10.8
53	Baliga, Zubin	1916	USA	F	F	=48B	−15N	+50B	1.5	6.0	6.0	2.25	1987	+5.0
54	Yu, Yang	1884	USA	F	−33B	−43N	+67B	=55N	1.5	5.5	5.5	0.75	1829	-13.2
55	Marian, Aaron	1833	USA	F	−50B	+67N	−63N	=54B	1.5	4.0	4.0	0.75	1910	+10.8
56	Lee, Linden	2156	USA	F	F	−1B	+27N	−7B	1.0	11.0	11.0	2.50	2129	-3.0
57	Sanchez Alvares, Kelvin AntonioFM	2232	VEN	F	F	−2N	+36B	−13N	1.0	10.0	10.0	2.00	1865	-27.4
58	Bellamy, Chase	1855	USA	−10N	=41B	−32N	−45B	=64B	1.0	9.5	10.0	1.25	1735	-31.2
59	Shen, Edward	1912	USA	−19N	F	−27B	=52B	=34N	1.0	9.0	9.0	1.75	1810	-20.4
60	Peyton, Nathan	1941	USA	−18N	=43B	−51N	=47B	−37N	1.0	8.5	10.0	1.75	1680	-66.0
61	Levine, Owen	1895	USA	F	F	−6N	=34B	=43N	1.0	8.0	8.0	2.00	1886	-1.6
62	Zhou, Alexander Zheng	1880	USA	−39N	−26B	F	+51B	−46N	1.0	8.0	8.0	1.50	1750	-26.4
63	Wan, JosephCM	2255	USA	F	F	F	+55B	F	1.0	1.5	1.5	1.50	2655	+1.6
64	Li, Mason J	1932	USA	−15B	−38N	−40B	−41B	=58N	0.5	9.0	10.0	0.50	1595	-73.6
65	Statz, Isaac Hart	1821	USA	F	=52B	−46N	−26B	F	0.5	6.0	6.0	0.75	1675	-19.6
66	Sheaf, Michael A	1872	USA	−6N	−49B	−42N	F	F	0.0	7.5	7.5	0.00	1252	-16.0
67	Uthra, P.WFM	1941	IND	F	−29N	−55B	−54N	F	0.0	5.5	5.5	0.00	1140	-30.2
68	Yang, Lucas	1831	USA	F	F	−35N	F	F	0.0	2.0	2.0	0.00	1168	-12.8

Key insights

Biggest movers and upsets — the story behind the numbers.

Top rating gainers

1Kumar, SanjayUSA
+59.6
3.0 pts · #21
2Liu, EthanUSA
+45.6
4.0 pts · #7
3DeDona, MarkUSA
+42.0
3.5 pts · #13

Top rating losers

1Li, Mason JUSA
-73.6
0.5 pts · #65
2Peyton, NathanUSA
-66.0
1.0 pts · #62
3Santosh, SaharshUSA
-37.2
2.0 pts · #33

Biggest upsets

R1+374 Elo gap
WFMLi, Sophie1879 beat IMPierrot, Facundo2253
R1+319 Elo gap
Kondabathini, Namish1759 beat Santosh, Saharsh2078
R1+314 Elo gap
FMTalwalkar, Vedant2021 beat IMMendes Aaron Reeve2335