2026 Cincinnati Open - FIDE Expert
36 players participated in this 5-round tournament, held from 10 Apr 2026 to 12 Apr 2026 in Blue Ash, OH, United States. 3 federations represented. Top 10 Elo average was 1881, and top seed was Deshawn Kelley (🇺🇸 USA, 2008).
Aarya Sivakumar (🇺🇸 USA, 1901) won with 4.0/5, ahead of Tejas Ponugupati (4.0) and Joseph W Kleban (3.5). Sivakumar took the lead from round 3, winning on tie-break.
The biggest upset came in round 3: Spand Bharat Mehta (1713) beat Liberty V Green (1926), a +213-point gap.
- 🥇
- 🥈
- 🥉
How it unfolded
Top 6 · 5 roundsTight race until R3; 2 players tied at 4.0/5, decided on Buchholz.
Aarya Sivakumar held the sole lead from R3 through R5 without losing it.
2 players finish on 4.0/5. Sivakumar takes the title on Buchholz Cut1 (10.5).
Aarya Sivakumar won 3 in a row (R2–R4).
Key matchups · top 4
Head-to-head between the four finishers| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Aarya Sivakumar | * | — | — | — |
| 2Tejas Ponugupati | — | * | ½ | — |
| 3Joseph W Kleban | — | ½ | * | — |
| 4Varun Sathyajeeth | — | — | — | * |
Grille américaine
| # | Player | Elo | Fed | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Pts | Bu C1 | Bu | SB | Perf | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sivakumar, Aarya | 1901 | USA | =7B | +21N | +4B | +8N | =13B | 4.0 | 10.5 | 12.0 | 9.50 | 2053 | +37.2 |
| 2 | Ponugupati, Tejas | 1832 | USA | +19B | =3N | =28N | +15B | +32B | 4.0 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 6.75 | 2029 | +48.0 |
| 3 | Kleban, Joseph W | 1785 | USA | +28N | =2B | −8B | +7N | +9B | 3.5 | 11.5 | 12.5 | 8.00 | 1942 | +42.0 |
| 4 | Ballantyne, Wayne | 1828 | USA | =12N | +14B | −1N | =18N | +29B | 3.0 | 11.0 | 12.0 | 5.75 | 1841 | +1.8 |
| 5 | Sathyajeeth, Varun | 1846 | USA | F | F | +20N | +11N | +17B | 3.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.00 | 2607 | +26.6 |
| 6 | Bailey, Darreion C | 1857 | USA | +30N | F | +7B | +10N | F | 3.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.00 | 2562 | +44.4 |
| 7 | Kelsch, Gallagher | 1759 | USA | =1N | +22B | −6N | −3B | +20N | 2.5 | 12.0 | 13.5 | 5.00 | 1829 | +18.8 |
| 8 | Avanish Ram Amarnath | 1773 | IND | F | +12B | +3N | −1B | =23N | 2.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 6.75 | 1902 | +27.2 |
| 9 | Ting, Shih Chieh Alfred | 1845 | MAS | +31B | −10N | +19N | =16B | −3N | 2.5 | 9.5 | 10.5 | 3.50 | 1730 | -15.4 |
| 10 | Nadathur, Hari Rangan | 1716 | USA | +34N | +9B | F | −6B | =16N | 2.5 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 4.00 | 1920 | +21.4 |
| 11 | Moore, Johnson | 1826 | USA | +29N | −15N | +33B | −5B | =19N | 2.5 | 7.5 | 8.5 | 2.75 | 1779 | -6.2 |
| 12 | Jegga, Pratham Sai Goud | 1725 | USA | =4B | −8N | =35B | +31N | =28N | 2.5 | 7.5 | 8.0 | 3.25 | 1759 | +7.6 |
| 13 | Kelley, Deshawn | 2008 | USA | F | F | +15N | +23B | =1N | 2.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 5.50 | 2128 | +7.8 |
| 14 | Anand, Anirudh | 1758 | USA | F | −4N | +36B | +22B | =24N | 2.5 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 2.25 | 1935 | +38.0 |
| 15 | Senthil Kumar, Athiyan | 1846 | USA | +20N | +11B | −13B | −2N | F | 2.0 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 4.00 | 1864 | +3.2 |
| 16 | Zhu, Andrew J | 1672 | USA | F | F | +21B | =9N | =10B | 2.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 4.00 | 1877 | +32.8 |
| 17 | Slattery, Andrew Thomas | 1805 | USA | F | F | +25N | +24B | −5N | 2.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 3.00 | 1974 | +27.6 |
| 18 | Spand Bharat Mehta | 1713 | IND | F | F | +34N | =4B | =25N | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 2.75 | 1985 | +43.2 |
| 19 | Patel, Het | 1797 | USA | −2N | F | −9B | +35N | =11B | 1.5 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 1.75 | 1561 | -33.6 |
| 20 | Stark, Gregg | 1791 | USA | −15B | +30N | −5B | =21N | −7B | 1.5 | 9.0 | 10.0 | 1.75 | 1642 | -19.6 |
| 21 | Labanz, Carl | 1696 | USA | F | −1B | −16N | =20B | +22N | 1.5 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 2.25 | 1707 | +0.8 |
| 22 | Sheaf, Michael A | 1812 | USA | =33B | −7N | +26B | −14N | −21B | 1.5 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 2.00 | 1395 | -40.4 |
| 23 | Stappenbeck, Andrew | 1818 | USA | F | F | +32B | −13N | =8B | 1.5 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 2.25 | 1846 | +4.4 |
| 24 | Winters, Lance | 1877 | USA | F | F | +31B | −17N | =14B | 1.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 2.25 | 1747 | -10.4 |
| 25 | Nguyen, John L | 1825 | USA | F | F | −17B | +33N | =18B | 1.5 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 2.00 | 1725 | -16.0 |
| 26 | FIDE 577039670 | 0 | — | F | F | −22N | +30B | =27N | 1.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 1.75 | 1828 | 0.0 |
| 27 | Friedman, David | 1863 | USA | F | F | +30B | −29N | =26B | 1.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 1.75 | 1779 | -4.6 |
| 28 | Mukherjee, Sathvik | 1758 | USA | −3B | F | =2B | −32N | =12B | 1.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 3.25 | 1582 | -36.4 |
| 29 | Schommer, Alexander J | 1748 | USA | −11B | −31N | F | +27B | −4N | 1.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 1.50 | 1606 | -28.8 |
| 30 | Mikina, Peter | 1810 | USA | −6B | −20B | −27N | −26N | +31B | 1.0 | 7.5 | 8.5 | 1.00 | 1604 | -42.8 |
| 31 | Parul Karthikeyan, Aanya | 1678 | USA | −9N | +29B | −24N | −12B | −30N | 1.0 | 7.5 | 8.5 | 1.00 | 1561 | -26.8 |
| 32 | Rucker, Damon | 1758 | USA | F | F | −23N | +28B | −2N | 1.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 1.00 | 1678 | -12.8 |
| 33 | Sureshkumar, Sidharth | 1656 | USA | =22N | =34B | −11N | −25B | F | 1.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 1.00 | 1654 | -0.8 |
| 34 | Green, Liberty V | 1926 | USA | −10B | =33N | −18B | F | F | 0.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 0.50 | 1422 | -74.8 |
| 35 | FIDE 30932912 | 0 | — | F | F | =12N | −19B | F | 0.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 1.25 | 1568 | 0.0 |
| 36 | Pendurti, Pranav | 1841 | USA | F | F | −14N | F | F | 0.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 0.00 | 958 | -24.4 |
Key insights
Biggest movers and upsets — the story behind the numbers.
- 1Ponugupati, TejasUSA+48.04.0 pts · #2
- 2Bailey, Darreion CUSA+44.43.0 pts · #6
- 3Spand Bharat MehtaIND+43.22.0 pts · #16
- 1Green, Liberty VUSA-74.80.5 pts · #34
- 2Mikina, PeterUSA-42.81.0 pts · #26
- 3Sheaf, Michael AUSA-40.41.5 pts · #33
- R3+213 Elo gap
- R1+210 Elo gap
- R2+129 Elo gap