Southall FIDE Congress - 31 January to 1 February 2026 - U2400
Open SwissStandard
25 players participated in this 5-round tournament, held from 31 Jan 2026 to 01 Feb 2026 in Southall, England. 6 federations represented. Top 10 Elo average was 1904, and top seed was Junhao Xian (🇨🇳 CHN, 2192).
Junhao Xian (🇨🇳 CHN, 2192) won with 5.0/5, ahead of Tom Balmond (3.5) and Ilya Iyengar (3.5). Xian won solo starting round 4.
The biggest upset came in round 1: Vineet Sood (1728) beat Ilya Iyengar (1989), a +261-point gap.
Location
🇬🇧Southall, England
Dates
31 Jan 2026 → 01 Feb 2026
Time control
Standard: 60 minutes with 30 seconds increment from move 1
System
Swiss · 5 rounds
Federations · 6 represented
🇬🇧England×20
🇺🇸United States of America×1
🇫🇷France×1
🇨🇳China×1
🇨🇭Switzerland×1
🇸🇱Sierra Leone×1
Top 3
- 🥇
- 🥈
- 🥉
How it unfolded
Top 6 · 5 roundsJunhao Xian led from R4; +1.5-point edge over the runner-up.
Co-leaders
10
4
2
1
1
R4–R5 · LEAD HELD
Junhao Xian never relinquished the lead after R4; final gap +1.5 over the runner-up.
R1–R5 · WIN STREAK
Junhao Xian won 5 in a row (R1–R5).
Key matchups · top 4
Head-to-head between the four finishers| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Junhao Xian | * | — | 1 | 1 |
| 2Ilya Iyengar | — | * | — | — |
| 3Tom Balmond | 0 | — | * | — |
| 4Maks Gajowniczek | 0 | — | — | * |
Grille américaine
| # | Player | Elo | Fed | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Pts | Bu C1 | Bu | SB | Perf | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Xian, Junhao | 2192 | CHN | +11N | +20B | +2N | +5B | +4N | 5.0 | 12.0 | 13.0 | 13.00 | 2658 | +11.6 |
| 2 | Balmond, Tom | 1864 | ENG | +8N | +15B | −1B | +6N | =13B | 3.5 | 13.5 | 15.5 | 9.25 | 1998 | +37.6 |
| 3 | Iyengar, Ilya | 1989 | ENG | −6B | +10N | +11B | =15N | +9B | 3.5 | 11.5 | 13.5 | 9.50 | 1895 | -10.2 |
| 4 | Gajowniczek, Maks | 1864 | ENG | +19N | +9B | −5B | +7N | −1B | 3.0 | 14.0 | 15.5 | 7.50 | 1898 | +4.4 |
| 5 | Kaushik, Madhav | 1895 | ENG | +16N | +18B | +4N | −1N | F | 3.0 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 6.50 | 2044 | +20.4 |
| 6 | Sood, Vineet | 1728 | ENG | +3N | =14B | +18N | −2B | =15B | 3.0 | 11.0 | 12.5 | 7.00 | 1864 | +15.2 |
| 7 | Zhang, Yichen | 1598 | ENG | +12N | =17B | =14N | −4B | +16N | 3.0 | 9.5 | 11.0 | 6.25 | 1825 | +58.8 |
| 8 | Pepe, Salvatore | 1638 | ENG | −2B | +22N | −13B | +18N | +17B | 3.0 | 9.0 | 9.5 | 3.50 | 1767 | +13.4 |
| 9 | Behr, Rufus | 1737 | ENG | +23N | −4N | +25B | +14B | −3N | 3.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 2.50 | 1820 | +16.8 |
| 10 | Llewellyn, Julian D | 1761 | ENG | =17N | −3B | =22N | +23B | +14N | 3.0 | 7.5 | 8.0 | 3.50 | 1781 | -0.8 |
| 11 | Codd, Daniel | 1731 | ENG | −1B | +24N | −3N | +22B | =12N | 2.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 1.75 | 1841 | +23.6 |
| 12 | Silke Balerna, Pietro | 1762 | SUI | −7B | +19N | +17B | −13N | =11B | 2.5 | 9.5 | 11.0 | 4.25 | 1709 | -14.0 |
| 13 | Lapidus, Alexey M. | 1943 | ENG | F | F | +8N | +12B | =2N | 2.5 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 7.25 | 2019 | +10.4 |
| 14 | Johnson, Felix | 1860 | ENG | +24B | =6N | =7B | −9N | −10B | 2.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 3.00 | 1623 | -62.4 |
| 15 | Kiuru, Otto | 1758 | ENG | F | −2N | +23B | =3B | =6N | 2.0 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 3.75 | 1727 | -6.0 |
| 16 | Saharkar, Sharvari | 1649 | ENG | −5B | −21B | +24N | +25N | −7B | 2.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.00 | 1618 | -21.2 |
| 17 | Rowland, Alex | 1587 | ENG | =10B | =7N | −12N | =19B | −8N | 1.5 | 11.5 | 13.0 | 3.75 | 1543 | -11.6 |
| 18 | Williams, Joseph | 1813 | ENG | +21N | −5N | −6B | −8B | =23N | 1.5 | 10.0 | 10.5 | 1.25 | 1555 | -53.6 |
| 19 | Pride, Stephen C | 1657 | ENG | −4B | −12B | F | =17N | +24B | 1.5 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.75 | 1625 | -7.6 |
| 20 | Voiculescu-Holvad, Stefan | 1859 | FRA | +22B | −1N | F | F | F | 1.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 0.50 | 1945 | +3.0 |
| 21 | Vuorenlehto, Pekka | 1742 | ENG | −18B | +16N | F | F | F | 1.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 2.00 | 2490 | +17.2 |
| 22 | James, Harry H | 1688 | USA | −20N | −8B | =10B | −11N | F | 0.5 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 1.50 | 1431 | -46.0 |
| 23 | Zhai, Yunqi | 0 | ENG | −9B | F | −15N | −10N | =18B | 0.5 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 0.75 | 961 | 0.0 |
| 24 | Agbaje, Samzu.o.h. | 1635 | SLE | −14N | −11B | −16B | F | −19N | 0.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 0.00 | 942 | -57.6 |
| 25 | Liu, Anbo | 1566 | ENG | F | F | −9N | −16B | F | 0.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 0.00 | 914 | -24.0 |
Key insights
Biggest movers and upsets — the story behind the numbers.
Top rating gainers
- 1Zhang, YichenENG+58.83.0 pts · #5
- 2Balmond, TomENG+37.63.5 pts · #3
- 3Codd, DanielENG+23.62.5 pts · #8
Top rating losers
- 1Johnson, FelixENG-62.42.0 pts · #14
- 2Agbaje, Samzu.o.h.SLE-57.60.0 pts · #25
- 3Williams, JosephENG-53.61.5 pts · #19
Biggest upsets
- R1+261 Elo gap
- R4+175 Elo gap
- R1+164 Elo gap