2025 Charlotte Fall Open - Championship

SwissStandard

61 players participated in this 5-round tournament, held from 26 Sept 2025 to 28 Sept 2025 in Charlotte, NC, United States. 10 titled players from 4 federations. Top 10 Elo average was 2306, and top seed was Awonder Liang (🇺🇸 USA, GM, 2698).

Awonder Liang (🇺🇸 USA, GM, 2698) won with 4.5/5, ahead of Jianchao Zhou (4.5) and Andrew Wu (4.0). Liang shared the lead from round 1, winning on tie-break.

The biggest upset came in round 1: Smayan Ammasani (1837) beat J. Yohan (2147), a +310-point gap.

Location

🇺🇸Charlotte, NC, United States

Dates

26 Sept 2025 → 28 Sept 2025

Time control

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

System

Swiss · 5 rounds

Top seed

🇺🇸GMAwonder Liang2698

Avg top 10

2,306

Participants

Titled players · 10

GM×3

FM×3

CM×2

WGM×1

WCM×1

Federations · 4 represented

🇺🇸United States of America×57

🇮🇳India×2

🇨🇷Costa Rica×1

🇮🇱Israel×1

Top 3

🥇
GMAwonder Liang
🇺🇸USA·2698
4.5pts·2759perf+3.2
🥈
GMJianchao Zhou
🇺🇸USA·2589
4.5pts·2669perf+5.1
🥉
Andrew Wu
🇺🇸USA·2135
4.0pts·2099perf-2.0

How it unfolded

Top 6 · 5 rounds

Tight race until R5; 2 players tied at 4.5/5, decided on Buchholz. Title race narrowed from 4 co-leaders at R4 to 2 at the finish.

Co-leaders

Zhou4.5Liang4.5Wu4Jiang3.5Crump3.5Troff3.5

R5 · TIEBREAK CLUSTER

2 players finish on 4.5/5. Liang takes the title on Buchholz Cut1 (14.5).

R4 · HEAD-TO-HEAD · WINNER VS 2ND

GM Jianchao Zhou drew with GM Awonder Liang (White).

WIN STREAKS · 2 top finishers

GM Jianchao Zhou 3 wins (R1–R3)GM Awonder Liang 3 wins (R1–R3)

Key matchups · top 4

Head-to-head between the four finishers

Player	1	2	3	4
1GMJianchao Zhou	*	½	—	—
2GMAwonder Liang	½	*	—	—
3Andrew Wu	—	—	*	—
4FMAndrew Jiang	—	—	—	*

Grille américaine

#	Player	Elo	Fed	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts	Bu C1	Bu	SB	Perf	Δ
1	Liang, AwonderGM	2698	USA	+53B	+8N	+11B	=2N	+4B	4.5	14.5	15.0	12.75	2759	+3.2
2	Zhou, JianchaoGM	2589	USA	+40N	+21B	+9N	=1B	+7N	4.5	14.0	15.5	13.25	2669	+5.1
3	Wu, Andrew	2135	USA	+33N	=22B	+59N	=5B	+12N	4.0	11.0	11.0	8.00	2099	-2.0
4	Troff, KaydenGM	2484	USA	+10B	+38N	+45B	=6N	−1N	3.5	13.5	15.0	8.75	2402	-2.2
5	Karthik, Advaith	2089	USA	+27B	+47N	=6B	=3N	=8B	3.5	13.5	14.5	9.00	2159	+11.4
6	Jiang, AndrewFM	2301	USA	+50N	+13B	=5N	=4B	=18N	3.5	13.0	14.0	9.00	2216	-5.2
7	Chirilov, James AFM	2252	USA	+19B	=28N	+49B	+16N	−2B	3.5	12.5	13.5	8.00	2210	-2.0
8	Wang, Aaron	2019	USA	+30N	−1B	+25N	+47B	=5N	3.5	12.5	13.5	7.25	2112	+24.8
9	Crump, Alexander J	2105	USA	+58B	+32N	−2B	+26N	=45B	3.5	10.5	10.5	5.25	2155	+7.2
10	Karthigeyan, Kishan	1922	USA	−4N	+55B	+41N	+29B	=15N	3.5	10.0	10.5	5.50	2130	+51.2
11	Belenkaya, DinaWGM	2246	ISR	+56N	+25B	−1N	=21B	=13N	3.0	12.5	13.0	5.75	2107	-13.4
12	Rallabandi, Krishna Kishore	1868	USA	=48B	=23N	+32B	+14N	−3B	3.0	11.5	12.5	6.75	1980	+27.6
13	Chen, Alan Zishun	1909	USA	+42B	−6N	=23B	+43N	=11B	3.0	10.5	12.0	5.75	2042	+29.2
14	Yohan, J.	2147	IND	−25N	+56B	+30N	−12B	+33N	3.0	9.5	10.0	4.50	1907	-26.2
15	Bondalapati, Sri Vibhav	2025	USA	F	+41B	=28N	+24N	=10B	3.0	9.5	9.5	6.75	2073	+9.6
16	Prasanna, AdvikCM	1993	USA	F	+31B	+22N	−7B	+44N	3.0	9.5	9.5	6.00	2076	+18.0
17	Ni, Beiyang	1990	USA	F	=34N	=35B	+23N	+21B	3.0	9.0	9.0	7.00	2002	+2.8
18	Baliga, Zubin	1953	USA	F	+48N	=24B	+36N	=6B	3.0	9.0	9.0	6.00	2137	+17.8
19	Vivek, Dhruv	1854	USA	−7N	+54B	−29N	+30B	+47N	3.0	8.5	9.0	3.50	1971	+28.0
20	Nguyen, John L	1738	USA	F	F	+58N	+40B	+28N	3.0	3.5	3.5	3.50	2630	+74.4
21	Zhang, Oscar Y	1927	USA	+43B	−2N	+34B	=11N	−17N	2.5	12.5	14.0	5.00	2014	+17.2
22	Srivastava, Arav	1768	USA	+26B	=3N	−16B	=49N	=24B	2.5	12.0	13.0	6.25	1974	+50.4
23	Le-Tran, Leo	1775	USA	=29N	=12B	=13N	−17B	+41N	2.5	11.0	12.5	5.50	1895	+31.2
24	McCartney, Patrick	1911	USA	=31N	+46B	=18N	−15B	=22N	2.5	10.5	12.0	5.25	1845	-8.4
25	Ammasani, Smayan	1837	USA	+14B	−11N	−8B	+48N	=49B	2.5	10.5	11.5	4.50	2016	+41.2
26	Tisserand, Miles	1886	USA	−22N	+58B	+42N	−9B	=27N	2.5	10.0	10.0	2.75	1876	-1.8
27	Rojas Cisneros, Kevin	1907	CRC	−5N	−40B	+55N	+57B	=26B	2.5	8.0	8.5	2.25	1837	-8.6
28	LeBakken, Lukas WCM	1923	USA	+54N	=7B	=15B	−39N	−20B	2.0	11.5	12.0	3.75	1899	-9.2
29	Marciano, Orry M	1945	USA	=23B	=35N	+19B	−10N	F	2.0	11.0	11.0	5.25	1833	-11.8
30	Chaudhury, Anmay Kumar	1826	USA	−8B	+53N	−14B	−19N	+48B	2.0	10.5	11.0	1.50	1862	+6.4
31	Murthy, Ayush	1793	USA	=24B	−16N	+53B	=37N	−36B	2.0	9.5	10.0	2.75	1827	+8.4
32	Harit, Neil	1749	USA	+61N	−9B	−12N	+50B	−35B	2.0	9.5	9.5	1.00	1830	+17.2
33	Naushad, Musa	1834	USA	−3B	+60N	−39B	+54N	−14B	2.0	9.5	9.5	0.50	1912	+15.2
34	Joseph, Veronique	1752	USA	=51N	=17B	−21N	=41B	=46N	2.0	8.5	9.5	3.50	1774	+4.6
35	Ramkumar, Aditya	1779	USA	F	=29B	=17N	−44B	+32N	2.0	8.5	8.5	4.50	1851	+14.4
36	Zhang, Brian Qixuan	1833	USA	F	F	+51N	−18B	+31N	2.0	6.0	6.0	3.00	1996	+26.0
37	Yu, Yang	1839	USA	F	=51B	=44N	=31B	=42N	2.0	6.0	6.0	3.00	1787	-11.2
38	Chu, Alex HaoningFM	2099	USA	+55N	−4B	+57N	F	F	2.0	4.5	4.5	1.00	2135	+7.2
39	Myers, Dominique	2012	USA	F	F	+33N	+28B	F	2.0	4.0	4.0	4.00	2679	+13.0
40	Cutitaru, Marius	1737	USA	−2B	+27N	−47B	−20N	=54B	1.5	11.0	11.5	2.75	1702	-14.4
41	Paukovitz, Samuel Anthony	1764	USA	+60B	−15N	−10B	=34N	−23B	1.5	11.0	11.0	1.00	1705	-17.2
42	Chen, CelineWCM	1769	USA	−13N	F	−26B	+52N	=37B	1.5	8.5	8.5	2.00	1767	-1.2
43	Austin, Freya	1758	USA	−21N	=50B	+46N	−13B	F	1.5	8.0	8.0	2.00	1758	-1.6
44	Pallapothu, Sri Pradyumn	1718	USA	F	F	=37B	+35N	−16B	1.5	7.0	7.0	3.00	1871	+23.2
45	Santosh, Saharsh	2059	USA	F	F	−4N	+59B	=9N	1.5	7.0	7.0	1.75	2083	+3.2
46	Morgan, Lakshmi M	1684	USA	F	−24N	−43B	+58N	=34B	1.5	6.0	6.0	1.00	1725	+6.8
47	Vinodh Kumar, Trishona	1642	USA	F	−5B	+40N	−8N	−19B	1.0	11.5	11.5	1.50	1720	+9.2
48	Kothapalli, Eshwar	1732	USA	=12N	−18B	=50N	−25B	−30N	1.0	10.5	11.5	2.00	1629	-24.0
49	Pendse, Vihaan	1945	USA	F	F	−7N	=22B	=25N	1.0	8.5	8.5	2.50	1827	-20.8
50	Rathi, Naitik	1859	USA	−6B	=43N	=48B	−32N	F	1.0	8.0	8.0	1.25	1682	-41.6
51	Harris, Neal	1867	USA	=34B	=37N	−36B	F	F	1.0	6.0	6.0	2.00	1683	-15.0
52	Gilbert, Walker W	1783	USA	F	F	+56N	−42B	F	1.0	2.0	2.0	0.50	1790	+0.8
53	Kolli, Rishi	1919	USA	−1N	−30B	−31N	=56B	F	0.5	9.0	9.0	0.25	1615	-61.2
54	Li, Allen	1830	USA	−28B	−19N	F	−33B	=40N	0.5	8.5	8.5	0.75	1515	-58.4
55	Padron, Antonio	1847	USA	−38B	−10N	−27B	F	=57N	0.5	8.5	8.5	0.25	1567	-25.8
56	Williams, Christopher	1811	USA	−11B	−14N	−52B	=53N	F	0.5	7.5	7.5	0.25	1693	-11.8
57	Desai, Jairaj	1627	USA	F	F	−38B	−27N	=55B	0.5	5.0	5.0	0.25	1654	+1.6
58	Ballal, Ishan	1829	IND	−9N	−26N	−20B	−46B	F	0.0	10.5	10.5	0.00	1053	-38.0
59	Arun, Raghav	1686	USA	F	F	−3B	−45N	F	0.0	5.5	5.5	0.00	1273	-7.2
60	Pealer, Shawn	1795	USA	−41N	−33B	F	F	F	0.0	3.5	3.5	0.00	999	-39.6
61	Tyrrell, Benjamin	1894	USA	−32B	F	F	F	F	0.0	2.0	2.0	0.00	950	-13.8

Key insights

Biggest movers and upsets — the story behind the numbers.

Top rating gainers

1Nguyen, John LUSA
+74.4
3.0 pts · #14
2Karthigeyan, KishanUSA
+51.2
3.5 pts · #9
3Srivastava, AravUSA
+50.4
2.5 pts · #21

Top rating losers

1Kolli, RishiUSA
-61.2
0.5 pts · #53
2Li, AllenUSA
-58.4
0.5 pts · #57
3Rathi, NaitikUSA
-41.6
1.0 pts · #51

Biggest upsets

R1+310 Elo gap
Ammasani, Smayan1837 beat Yohan, J.2147
R4+279 Elo gap
Rallabandi, Krishna Kishore1868 beat Yohan, J.2147
R5+185 Elo gap
Nguyen, John L1738 beat CMLeBakken, Lukas W1923