CChessStats

2026 Cornerstone New Year's Classic - Master

SwissStandard

31 players participated in this 5-round tournament, held from 02 Jan 2026 to 04 Jan 2026 in Sunnyvale, CA, United States. 18 titled players from 6 federations. Top 10 Elo average was 2436, and top seed was Abdimalik Abdisalimov (🇺🇿 UZB, GM, 2560).

Aleksey Sorokin (🇷🇺 RUS, GM, 2530) won with 4.0/5, ahead of Abdimalik Abdisalimov (4.0) and Mukhammadali Abdurakhmonov (4.0). Sorokin shared the lead from round 1, winning on tie-break.

The biggest upset came in round 1: Evan Ai (2170) beat Semyon Lomasov (GM, 2560), a +390-point gap.

Location
🇺🇸Sunnyvale, CA, United States
Dates
02 Jan 2026 → 04 Jan 2026
Time control
Standard: 90 minutes with 30 second increment from move 1
System
Swiss · 5 rounds
Top seed
🇺🇿GMAbdimalik Abdisalimov2560
Avg top 10
2,436
Participants
31
Titled players · 18
GM×4
IM×6
FM×4
CM×2
WIM×1
WFM×1
Federations · 6 represented
🇺🇸United States of America×24
🇺🇿Uzbekistan×3
🇫🇮Finland×1
🇷🇺Russia×1
🇧🇬Bulgaria×1
🇮🇱Israel×1
Top 3

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
12
5
5
2
3
1.52.545R1R2R3R4R5
Sorokin4Abdisalimov4Abdurakhmonov4Taghizadeh3.5Bick3.5Heimann3.5
R5 · TIEBREAK CLUSTER

3 players finish on 4.0/5. Sorokin takes the title on Buchholz Cut1 (15.0).

R5 · HEAD-TO-HEAD · WINNER VS 2ND

GM Aleksey Sorokin drew with GM Abdimalik Abdisalimov (Black).

R3–R5 · WIN STREAK

IM Mukhammadali Abdurakhmonov won 3 in a row (R3–R5).

Key matchups · top 4

Head-to-head between the four finishers
Player1234
1GMAleksey Sorokin*
½
1
½
2GMAbdimalik Abdisalimov
½
*—
1
3IMMukhammadali Abdurakhmonov
0
—*—
4FMRayan Taghizadeh
½
0
—*

Grille américaine

#PlayerEloFedR1R2R3R4R5PtsBu C1BuSBPerfΔ
1Sorokin, AlekseyGM2530RUS+16N+3B=5N+4B=2N4.015.017.013.252603+5.3
2Abdisalimov, AbdimalikGM2560UZB+23N+9B=8N+5B=1B4.013.515.011.502553+0.6
3Abdurakhmonov, MukhammadaliIM2339UZB+19B−1N+26B+14N+8N4.011.012.08.002384+5.0
4Heimann, MarkGM2518USA+17B=6N+20B−1N+9N3.512.514.58.752430-3.7
5Taghizadeh, RayanFM2269USA+28N+27B=1B−2N+11B3.511.512.06.002474+26.8
6Virtanen, TeemuFM2276FIN+18N=4B=13N+21B=7N3.511.013.08.502316+7.6
7Bick, Gabriel James KoopIM2350USA+26B−20N+12B+13N=6B3.510.011.07.252270-3.5
8Jing, AndrewFM2317USA+15B+12N=2B=11N−3B3.013.015.07.752379+9.2
9Rajaram, RohanCM2291USA+22B−2N+15B+10N−4B3.012.514.57.002351+19.2
10Petrov, Vladimir SergeevIM2335BUL=14N=13B+27N−9B+24B3.08.59.54.502140-10.4
11Saydaliev, SaidakbarIM2440UZB−27N+28B+23N=8B−5N2.59.09.53.502144-16.5
12Ai, Evan2170USA+31N−8B−7N+29B=21N2.59.09.01.502254+9.2
13Paragiri, Reyansh2004USAF=10N=6B−7B+17N2.012.012.05.252263+46.4
14Karthikeyan, Harishkumar1965USA=10B+25N=21N−3BF2.010.510.54.002222+46.8
15Dasika, Archit2027USA−8N+16B−9N+23B−22N2.010.011.53.502063+2.8
16Yao, Hanchi2105USA−1B−15N=29B=19N+25B2.09.510.02.752061-17.2
17Nanugonda, Vishva2090USA−4N=18B=24B+26N−13B2.09.010.02.752012-23.8
18Gopalakrishnan, Kritin1929USA−6B=17N+25B−24N=23B2.08.510.03.252045+26.4
19Bagdasarian, Ararat1943USA−3N−23B=28N=16B+27N2.08.59.02.252037+18.4
20Mahajan, RushaanFM2189USA+24N+7B−4NFF2.08.58.55.002425+17.6
21Iinuma, Paul Y2034USAF+29N=14B−6N=12B2.08.58.52.752105+6.8
22Mallela, Abhishek1957USA−9N−26NF+27B+15B2.07.07.03.002084+12.4
23Gattani, Sarthak2007USA−2B+19N−11B−15N=18N1.510.512.53.001994-13.2
24Qi, JennyWFM2031USA−20BF=17N+18B−10N1.59.09.03.002049+0.4
25Vidyarthi, OmyaWIM2180USA=30N−14B−18N+28B−16N1.56.57.00.751942-62.8
26Winslow, ElliottIM1965USA−7N+22B−3N−17BF1.011.511.52.001991-0.6
27Biyiasas, Theodore2051USA+11B−5N−10B−22N−19B1.011.013.02.501949-15.0
28Senthilkumar, PranavCM2044USA−5B−11N=19B−25NF0.59.59.51.001886-15.2
29Bhatta, Rohit2008USAF−21B=16N−12NF0.56.56.51.001830-12.4
30Sethuraman, SandeepIM2414USA=25BFFFF0.51.51.50.752180-2.9
31Lomasov, SemyonGM2560ISR−12BFFFF0.02.52.50.001370-9.1

Key insights

Biggest movers and upsets — the story behind the numbers.

Top rating gainers
Top rating losers
Biggest upsets