2nd Annual ACA Thanksgiving Open

SwissStandard

39 players participated in this 5-round tournament, held from 31 Oct 2025 to 02 Nov 2025 in Dulles, VA, United States. 11 titled players from 6 federations. Top 10 Elo average was 2272, and top seed was Praveen Balakrishnan (🇺🇸 USA, GM, 2499).

Praveen Balakrishnan (🇺🇸 USA, GM, 2499) won with 4.0/5, ahead of Tal Baron (4.0) and Daniel Girsh (4.0). Balakrishnan shared the lead from round 1, winning on tie-break.

The biggest upset came in round 3: Franco Quintero Alejandrino (1703) beat Oladapo ADU (IM, 2137), a +434-point gap.

Location

🇺🇸Dulles, VA, United States

Dates

31 Oct 2025 → 02 Nov 2025

Time control

Standard: 90 minutes with 30 second increment from move 1

System

Swiss · 5 rounds

Top seed

🇺🇸GMPraveen Balakrishnan2499

Avg top 10

2,272

Participants

Titled players · 11

GM×2

IM×2

FM×4

CM×1

WCM×2

Federations · 6 represented

🇺🇸United States of America×34

🇳🇬Nigeria×1

🇮🇳India×1

🇱🇰Sri Lanka×1

🇮🇱Israel×1

🇦🇿Azerbaijan×1

Top 3

🥇
GMPraveen Balakrishnan
🇺🇸USA·2499
4.0pts·2525perf+2.1
🥈
GMTal Baron
🇮🇱ISR·2422
4.0pts·2433perf+2.7
🥉
FMDaniel Girsh
🇺🇸USA·2205
4.0pts·2304perf+13.0

How it unfolded

Top 6 · 5 rounds

Tight race until R5; 3 players tied at 4.0/5, decided on Buchholz. Title race narrowed from 2 co-leaders at R4 to 3 at the finish.

Co-leaders

Balakrishnan4Girsh4Baron4Swaminathan3.5Diao3.5De Silva3.5

R5 · TIEBREAK CLUSTER

3 players finish on 4.0/5. Balakrishnan takes the title on Buchholz Cut1 (14.5).

R1–R3 · WIN STREAK

GM Praveen Balakrishnan won 3 in a row (R1–R3).

Key matchups · top 4

Head-to-head between the four finishers

Player	1	2	3	4
1GMPraveen Balakrishnan	*	—	1	—
2FMDaniel Girsh	—	*	—	½
3GMTal Baron	0	—	*	—
4Pranav Swaminathan	—	½	—	*

Grille américaine

#	Player	Elo	Fed	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts	Bu C1	Bu	SB	Perf	Δ
1	Balakrishnan, PraveenGM	2499	USA	+22B	+6N	+2B	=4N	=8B	4.0	14.5	16.5	13.00	2525	+2.1
2	Baron, TalGM	2422	ISR	+16B	+10N	−1N	+18B	+4B	4.0	13.0	15.5	11.50	2433	+2.7
3	Girsh, DanielFM	2205	USA	+24B	=7N	+13B	=5N	+9B	4.0	12.5	14.5	11.00	2304	+13.0
4	Jing, AndrewFM	2325	USA	+26N	+21B	+7N	=1B	−2N	3.5	13.5	15.0	9.00	2406	+14.0
5	Swaminathan, Pranav	2062	USA	=25N	+15B	+11N	=3B	=6N	3.5	13.0	15.0	10.25	2223	+42.0
6	Diao, Matthew GuoFM	2322	USA	+17N	−1B	+34B	+20N	=5B	3.5	12.5	13.0	7.25	2214	-7.0
7	De Silva, L M S TIM	2395	SRI	+39N	=3B	−4B	+14N	+17B	3.5	12.5	12.5	7.00	2252	-6.1
8	Vaibhav KalpakaFM	2255	IND	=12B	=34N	+24B	+23N	=1N	3.5	10.5	11.0	7.50	2162	-5.6
9	Wang, Kevin	2042	USA	=15N	+31B	=25N	+21B	−3N	3.0	10.5	11.5	5.25	2081	+11.6
10	Zhuang, Kyle	2098	USA	+33N	−2B	=12N	+26B	=18N	3.0	10.5	11.5	5.00	2064	-7.6
11	Samanta, Aayansh	1928	USA	F	+36N	−5B	+19N	+13B	3.0	9.0	9.0	5.50	2088	+32.8
12	Liu, StevenCM	1995	USA	=8N	=14B	=10B	F	+21N	2.5	11.0	11.0	6.50	2133	+29.2
13	Chetlapalli, Vishnu	1958	USA	=30N	+35B	−3N	+29B	−11N	2.5	10.0	10.5	2.75	2009	+13.6
14	Gilbert, Walker W	1753	USA	F	=12N	+16B	−7B	+26N	2.5	10.0	10.0	5.25	2096	+67.2
15	Jackson, Cayden	1900	USA	=9B	−5N	−22B	+35N	+31N	2.5	9.5	10.0	3.00	1947	+12.4
16	Levine, Owen	1952	USA	−2N	+33B	−14N	+37B	=23B	2.5	9.5	10.0	2.50	1898	-18.0
17	Kurup, Siddharth	1851	USA	−6B	=22N	+35N	+34B	−7N	2.5	9.5	10.0	2.00	1992	+28.4
18	Demirel, Esat Omer	1803	USA	F	+38B	+29N	−2N	=10B	2.5	9.0	9.0	3.50	2183	+73.6
19	Zhou, Alexander Zheng	1793	USA	−21N	=26B	+31N	−11B	+34N	2.5	7.5	8.0	2.25	1894	+25.6
20	Debmisra, Ariv	1891	USA	F	=27N	+32B	−6B	+28N	2.5	7.5	7.5	3.25	1984	+14.8
21	Amrany, Benjamin	2046	USA	+19B	−4N	+27B	−9N	−12B	2.0	11.5	13.0	4.00	1926	-32.8
22	Kelley, Deshawn	2027	USA	−1N	=17B	+15N	=28B	F	2.0	10.5	10.5	4.50	1965	-7.4
23	Alejandrino, Franco Quintero	1703	USA	F	=32N	+30B	−8B	=16N	2.0	8.5	8.5	3.25	1976	+48.4
24	Winters, Lance	1862	USA	−3N	+39B	−8N	+32B	F	2.0	8.5	8.5	1.00	2043	+15.6
25	Lynn, Bennett M	2014	USA	=5B	+28N	=9B	F	F	2.0	8.0	8.0	4.75	2054	+9.2
26	Sridhar, Jagadeeshwar Yehamandram	1904	USA	−4B	=19N	+36B	−10N	−14B	1.5	11.5	12.0	1.75	1793	-34.8
27	Murugan Ayyappan, Adhiraiyan	1836	USA	=29N	=20B	−21N	−30B	=32N	1.5	7.5	8.5	2.50	1825	-6.4
28	Ghodgaonkar, Anirudh P	1681	USA	F	−25B	+33N	=22N	−20B	1.5	7.5	7.5	2.00	1856	+30.0
29	Wang, Aaron	2051	USA	=27B	+37N	−18B	−13N	F	1.5	7.0	7.0	1.25	1774	-58.8
30	ADU, OladapoIM	2137	NGR	=13B	F	−23N	+27N	F	1.5	6.0	6.0	2.75	1844	-20.0
31	Deng, Michael	1881	USA	F	−9N	−19B	+36N	−15B	1.0	8.5	8.5	0.50	1682	-41.6
32	Baim, Emin	1745	USA	F	=23B	−20N	−24N	=27B	1.0	8.0	8.0	1.75	1630	-22.8
33	Haldankar, Ameya	1838	USA	−10B	−16N	−28B	F	+37N	1.0	7.5	7.5	0.50	1701	-28.8
34	Jackson, Maddox	1710	USA	F	=8B	−6N	−17N	−19B	0.5	12.0	12.0	1.75	1644	-14.0
35	Dokka, Tanush	1723	USA	F	−13N	−17B	−15B	=36N	0.5	8.0	8.0	0.25	1547	-30.0
36	Chen, CelineWCM	1765	USA	F	−11B	−26N	−31B	=35B	0.5	6.0	6.0	0.25	1538	-39.6
37	Doddapaneni, Viyaan Krishna	1846	USA	F	−29B	=38N	−16N	−33B	0.5	5.5	5.5	0.25	1639	-36.0
38	Ismayilova, KhanimWCM	2001	AZE	F	−18N	=37B	F	F	0.5	3.0	3.0	0.25	1632	-38.8
39	Clancy, Daniel	1967	USA	−7B	−24N	F	F	F	0.0	5.5	5.5	0.00	1315	-14.4

Key insights

Biggest movers and upsets — the story behind the numbers.

Top rating gainers

1Demirel, Esat OmerUSA
+73.6
2.5 pts · #13
2Gilbert, Walker WUSA
+67.2
2.5 pts · #20
3Alejandrino, Franco QuinteroUSA
+48.4
2.0 pts · #24

Top rating losers

1Wang, AaronUSA
-58.8
1.5 pts · #30
2Deng, MichaelUSA
-41.6
1.0 pts · #33
3Chen, CelineWCMUSA
-39.6
0.5 pts · #37

Biggest upsets

R3+434 Elo gap
Alejandrino, Franco Quintero1703 beat IMADU, Oladapo2137
R3+248 Elo gap
Demirel, Esat Omer1803 beat Wang, Aaron2051
R3+199 Elo gap
Gilbert, Walker W1753 beat Levine, Owen1952