2026 Cornerstone New Year's Classic - Expert
22 players participated in this 5-round tournament, held from 02 Jan 2026 to 04 Jan 2026 in Sunnyvale, CA, United States. 1 titled players from 3 federations. Top 10 Elo average was 1918, and top seed was Oleg Bakin (🇷🇺 RUS, 1997).
Zlata Mokeeva (🇷🇺 RUS, 1932) won with 4.0/5, ahead of Arjun Sankar (3.5) and Zelin Fang (3.5). Mokeeva broke clear in the final round.
The biggest upset came in round 5: Evan Shi (1700) beat Rehaan Malhotra (1827), a +127-point gap.
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How it unfolded
Top 6 · 5 roundsZlata Mokeeva led from R5; +0.5-point edge over the runner-up. Title race converged from 3 co-leaders at R4 to 1 by R5.
Zlata Mokeeva held the sole lead from R5 through R5 without losing it.
Zlata Mokeeva went unbeaten across 5 games (R1–R5).
Key matchups · top 4
Head-to-head between the four finishers| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Zlata Mokeeva | * | — | — | — |
| 2Evan Shi | — | * | ½ | — |
| 3Arjun Sankar | — | ½ | * | — |
| 4Vishnu Chetlapalli | — | — | — | * |
Grille américaine
| # | Player | Elo | Fed | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Pts | Bu C1 | Bu | SB | Perf | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mokeeva, Zlata | 1932 | RUS | +20N | =19B | +3N | =9B | +6N | 4.0 | 10.0 | 10.5 | 8.75 | 2126 | +48.4 |
| 2 | Sankar, Arjun | 1832 | USA | +12N | =3B | =4N | =8B | +10N | 3.5 | 12.0 | 14.5 | 9.75 | 1940 | +14.2 |
| 3 | Fang, Zelin | 1864 | USA | +14B | =2N | −1B | +19N | +12B | 3.5 | 12.0 | 13.0 | 7.25 | 1987 | +33.2 |
| 4 | Shi, Evan | 1700 | USA | =9N | +15B | =2B | =11N | +7N | 3.5 | 11.0 | 13.0 | 8.75 | 2006 | +80.8 |
| 5 | Chetlapalli, Vishnu | 1984 | USA | +22N | =8B | +7N | =6B | =11B | 3.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 6.50 | 2029 | +9.9 |
| 6 | Bakin, Oleg | 1997 | RUS | +13B | =7N | +10B | =5N | −1B | 3.0 | 12.5 | 15.0 | 8.00 | 1967 | -3.6 |
| 7 | Malhotra, Rehaan | 1827 | USA | +16N | =6B | −5B | +14N | −4B | 2.5 | 12.0 | 13.5 | 5.00 | 1841 | +3.2 |
| 8 | Yi, Victor | 1725 | USA | F | =5N | =9B | =2N | +15B | 2.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 6.75 | 1960 | +49.2 |
| 9 | Akopian, Robert | 1871 | USA | =4B | +17B | =8N | =1N | F | 2.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 6.50 | 1861 | -1.4 |
| 10 | Joseph, Veronique | 1884 | USA | =21N | +18B | −6N | +16B | −2B | 2.5 | 9.5 | 10.0 | 3.25 | 1873 | -3.2 |
| 11 | Bryant, Daniel | 1982 | USA | =18B | F | +19N | =4B | =5N | 2.5 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 5.25 | 1964 | -1.4 |
| 12 | Yuan, SerenaWCM | 1781 | USA | −2B | +22B | =17N | +21B | −3N | 2.5 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 1.25 | 1828 | +12.8 |
| 13 | Pavuluri, Vivaan | 1845 | USA | −6N | −16B | +18N | +17B | =14N | 2.5 | 8.0 | 9.5 | 4.00 | 1818 | -7.6 |
| 14 | Chen, Leo H | 1715 | USA | −3N | +20B | =16N | −7B | =13B | 2.0 | 10.0 | 10.5 | 2.50 | 1751 | +9.6 |
| 15 | Sawhney, Yuvraj Singh | 1771 | USA | −17N | −4N | +22B | +20B | −8N | 2.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 0.50 | 1682 | -24.8 |
| 16 | Suthar, Om | 1808 | USA | −7B | +13N | =14B | −10N | −18N | 1.5 | 9.5 | 11.0 | 3.50 | 1678 | -31.0 |
| 17 | Wang, Chase | 1707 | USA | +15B | −9N | =12B | −13N | F | 1.5 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 3.25 | 1730 | +3.6 |
| 18 | Zhu, Stephen | 1861 | USA | =11N | −10N | −13B | F | +16B | 1.5 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 2.75 | 1793 | -16.4 |
| 19 | Cummins, Finn | 1928 | IRL | F | =1N | −11B | −3B | =20N | 1.0 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 2.25 | 1694 | -24.6 |
| 20 | Ni, Leo | 1770 | USA | −1B | −14N | F | −15N | =19B | 0.5 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 0.50 | 1515 | -46.4 |
| 21 | Wang, Michael | 1866 | USA | =10B | F | F | −12N | F | 0.5 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 1.25 | 1640 | -11.8 |
| 22 | Gupta, Reyansh | 1869 | USA | −5B | −12N | −15N | F | F | 0.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 0.00 | 1045 | -63.6 |
Key insights
Biggest movers and upsets — the story behind the numbers.
- 1Shi, EvanUSA+80.83.5 pts · #2
- 2Yi, VictorUSA+49.22.5 pts · #8
- 3Mokeeva, ZlataRUS+48.44.0 pts · #1
- 1Gupta, ReyanshUSA-63.60.0 pts · #22
- 2Ni, LeoUSA-46.40.5 pts · #20
- 3Suthar, OmUSA-31.01.5 pts · #18
- R5+127 Elo gap