1st Annual Oak Grove Open
24 players participated in this 5-round tournament, held from 12 Dec 2025 to 14 Dec 2025 in Oak Grove, VA, United States. 6 titled players from 2 federations. Top 10 Elo average was 2078, and top seed was Praveen Balakrishnan (🇺🇸 USA, GM, 2507).
Praveen Balakrishnan (🇺🇸 USA, GM, 2507) won with 4.5/5, ahead of Daniel Girsh (4.5) and Esat Omer Demirel (3.0). Balakrishnan shared the lead from round 1, winning on tie-break.
The biggest upset came in round 4: Jeffrey Song (1661) beat Karl Dehmelt (FM, 2023), a +362-point gap.
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How it unfolded
Top 6 · 5 roundsTight race until R5; 2 players tied at 4.5/5, decided on Buchholz. Title race narrowed from 2 co-leaders at R4 to 2 at the finish.
2 players finish on 4.5/5. Balakrishnan takes the title on Buchholz Cut1 (13.0).
FM Daniel Girsh drew with GM Praveen Balakrishnan (White).
Deodato Obregon won 3 in a row (R3–R5).
Key matchups · top 4
Head-to-head between the four finishers| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1FMDaniel Girsh | * | ½ | — | — |
| 2GMPraveen Balakrishnan | ½ | * | 1 | — |
| 3Deodato Obregon | — | 0 | * | — |
| 4Tanush Dokka | — | — | — | * |
Grille américaine
| # | Player | Elo | Fed | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Pts | Bu C1 | Bu | SB | Perf | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Balakrishnan, PraveenGM | 2507 | USA | +4N | +7B | =2N | +10B | +3B | 4.5 | 13.0 | 15.5 | 13.25 | 2500 | 0.0 |
| 2 | Girsh, DanielFM | 2244 | USA | +16B | +3N | =1B | +12N | +9B | 4.5 | 12.0 | 13.5 | 11.25 | 2372 | +14.6 |
| 3 | Demirel, Esat Omer | 1937 | USA | +19B | −2B | +11N | +20B | −1N | 3.0 | 12.0 | 13.0 | 4.00 | 1962 | +7.6 |
| 4 | Obregon, Deodato | 1938 | USA | −1B | −11N | +19N | +8B | +20N | 3.0 | 10.0 | 11.0 | 4.50 | 1885 | -11.2 |
| 5 | Liu, StevenCM | 2053 | USA | +22N | =8B | =17N | F | +14B | 3.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 4.50 | 2011 | -3.2 |
| 6 | Dokka, Tanush | 1727 | USA | −17N | +24B | −7N | +23B | +11N | 3.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 2.00 | 1861 | +32.8 |
| 7 | Li, Aiden LinyuanCM | 2044 | USA | +11B | −1N | +6B | =14N | F | 2.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 6.00 | 1975 | -9.4 |
| 8 | Ghodgaonkar, Anirudh P | 1862 | USA | +18B | =5N | −12B | −4N | +16B | 2.5 | 9.5 | 11.0 | 4.50 | 1938 | +16.8 |
| 9 | Schenk, Sam | 1896 | USA | −13N | =22B | +23N | +16B | −2N | 2.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 1.75 | 1794 | -13.4 |
| 10 | Kurup, Siddharth | 1915 | USA | +24N | +17B | =14B | −1N | F | 2.5 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 2.50 | 2011 | +18.0 |
| 11 | Fang, Kevin | 1667 | USA | −7N | +4B | −3B | +24N | −6B | 2.0 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 3.00 | 1785 | +24.4 |
| 12 | Sathiesh, Kavin C | 1690 | USA | F | +13B | +8N | −2B | F | 2.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 4.50 | 1996 | +44.4 |
| 13 | Song, Jeffrey | 1661 | USA | +9B | −12N | F | +17B | −15N | 2.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 4.00 | 1824 | +15.4 |
| 14 | Gao, Pinhang | 1684 | USA | F | +23B | =10N | =7B | −5N | 2.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 2.50 | 1897 | +37.6 |
| 15 | Chen, Megan | 1688 | USA | F | −20N | +21B | F | +13B | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.00 | 1627 | -3.4 |
| 16 | Godlaveti, Pracheth | 1787 | USA | −2N | +19B | =18B | −9N | −8N | 1.5 | 11.0 | 12.0 | 1.75 | 1799 | -3.0 |
| 17 | Dehmelt, KarlFM | 2023 | USA | +6B | −10N | =5B | −13N | F | 1.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 4.50 | 1752 | -27.2 |
| 18 | Vaibhav KalpakaFM | 2224 | IND | −8N | +21B | =16N | F | F | 1.5 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 1.75 | 1650 | -26.4 |
| 19 | Li, Ella Xinyi | 1608 | USA | −3N | −16N | −4B | +21N | F | 1.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 1.00 | 1088 | -20.0 |
| 20 | Wang, Charles | 1593 | USA | F | +15B | F | −3N | −4B | 1.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 2.00 | 1729 | +16.0 |
| 21 | Liu, Caden | 0 | USA | F | −18N | −15N | −19B | +23N | 1.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 0.00 | 1581 | 0.0 |
| 22 | Rajeev, Ameya | 1703 | USA | −5B | =9N | F | F | F | 0.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 1.25 | 1782 | +5.6 |
| 23 | Bhattacharyya, Rishik | 1576 | USA | F | −14N | −9B | −6N | −21B | 0.0 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 0.00 | 969 | -31.2 |
| 24 | Xu, Jason N | 1641 | USA | −10B | −6N | F | −11B | F | 0.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 0.00 | 969 | -40.4 |
Key insights
Biggest movers and upsets — the story behind the numbers.
- 1Sathiesh, Kavin CUSA+44.42.0 pts · #12
- 2Gao, PinhangUSA+37.62.0 pts · #11
- 3Dokka, TanushUSA+32.83.0 pts · #4
- 1Xu, Jason NUSA-40.40.0 pts · #24
- 2Bhattacharyya, RishikUSA-31.20.0 pts · #23
- 3Dehmelt, KarlFMUSA-27.21.5 pts · #15
- R4+362 Elo gap
- R1+362 Elo gap
- R2+271 Elo gap