Feb 2026 at John Green Elementary

201 players competed at the Tri-Valley Feb Open at John Green Elementary in Dublin, a co-presentation of Emerald Hills Chess, the Tri-Valley Chess League, and the Emerald Knights Chess Club. 

In our 36-player Championship (1200+) Quads, our first-place winners were:

Group 1 (1600+, $140 first): Raghav Ramesh

Group 2 (1400+, $100 first): Michael Wu

Group 3 (1300+, $80 first): Gloria She

Group 4 (1300+, $80 split): Yuvan Nandhakumar, Aaron Ahsan* (Thurs night free chess), Harikrishnan Pradeep

Group 5 (1300+, $80 first): Viaan Rai

Group 6 (1200+, $80 first): Advaith Nadiminti* (GM-led High-Performance)

Group 7 (1200+, $80 split): Chloe Li and Srikar Yenamandra

Group 8 (~1200, $80 first): Aarav Ganesh

Group 9 (~1200, $80 split): Ryan Banerjee* (GM-led High-Performance) and Xiaoxi Sha

(* denotes one of the 300 students of Emerald Hills Chess’s tourney training classes and afterschool clubs.)

In the 47-player Experts (800-1199) section, Anandharaman Pattabiraman* (Thurs night free chess) and Boya Wu* (Thurs GM-led High-Performance Class) tied for first with perfect 4-0 scores, winning $75 each. Vetrivel Jagath went an undefeated 3.5 out of 4 to take sole third place.

There was a ten-way(!) tie for fourth place at 3-1 - in tiebreak order: Aditi Sinha, Evan Li (Sunday tournament training), Agastya Gannavarapu, Joshua Cruz, Aditya Ashwin* (Cottonwood Creek), Anvit Nadendla, Abhi Arun Kumar, Keshav Hari (1st U1000), Michael Haddad* (Cottonwood Creek), and Pranav Mehta. Pranav Barani and Alex Liao scooped up the other top U1000 trophies.

In the 55-player Premier (U800) section, Rohith Nukula went a perfect 4-0 to take first. Vvihaan Chanana, Advaith Aravind, Partha Chereddy* (Sunday tournament training) and Aleksander Bocray tied for 2nd-5th with undefeated 3.5/4 scores.

There was a 12-way tie for fourth place with strong 3-1 scores: Arinjay Dhole* (Walnut Grove), Reyansh Arise, Saketh Kollipara* (Fairlands elementary), Ayaan Karia* (Mohr Elementary), Zhiyuan Tian* (Sunday tournament training), Louis Liu, Likhil Epuri, Aarav Nayak* (Thurs tournament training), Varsha Vijay* (Thurs night chess club), Ehaan Parekh* (Wed tournament training), Anika Kalidindi, and Shauryveer Chaundkar.

In the 31-player K12 Challenger (U400), Leonardo Fernandez placed first with a perfect 4-0 score. Vrishaak Rao* (Wed tournament training) and Thanukshan Mahesvar tied for second with 3.5/4 scores. Four players tied for 4th-7th at 3-1: Andre Wu* (Thurs tournament training), Charit Appana, Ved Dharmatti, and Kiaan Desai. Six other players also scored trophies: Sathvik Uppala and Krishav Mahesa* (Coyote Creek), Akhil Marepally, Medhya Karnati, Eleanor Ahsan* (Thurs night chess), and Aadhvik Krishna.

In the 26-player non-rated Novices, Bhuvan Konduru took first with an undefeated 4.5-0.5 record. Four players tied for 2nd-5th at 4-1: Aditya Girish, Atharv Sandeep, Ghrinay Prasad Srivatsa* and Parth Nagpal* (both Wed tournament training). Tied for 6th and/or top U200/unrated with 3-2 scores were: Sumedh Kollipara* (Thurs night chess), Vedaant Das, Arjun Winston* (Hidden Hills), Samhita Kulkarni* (Coyote Creek), and Titus Blatt* (Donlon).

Final Standings in tiebreak order and Tiebreakers explained

USCF-Rated results (not including Novices, and NOT in actual tiebreak order) and Rating system explained 

Thank Yous

From lead organizers Emerald Hills Chess’s Eric Lai (Chief Tournament Director) and Bhavna Jain to:

• Tournament Directors Scott Mason and FIDE Master Advay Bansal

• Floor TDs Shivish Aneja from Emerald Knights Chess Club (aka Emerald HS Chess) and Saathvik Dharmapuram, Shashank Bonthu, Veer Sharma and Amar Sakthivel from the Tri-Valley Chess League.

Coming Events

March 14: East Bay Spring Open and Youth Championship

• 60+ individual trophies and $1,200 in guaranteed cash prizes over five rated/unrated sections 

• Top 3 team trophies for K-12 schools or clubs in EVERY section

• Play-ups available 

• Efficient ¾-day schedule with up to 2 byes available

• Register by Tuesday March 10th to save $10

April 11: San Francisco Scholastic Chess Championship

Register for the 20th edition of this free one-day tournament organized by our friends at Mechanics Institute. Seventy trophies for individual players over seven sections, as well as fifteen trophies for the top school and club teams (the latter was won by Emerald Hills Chess last year). 

Capacity is 300 players, so register ASAP to avoid the wait list. And please choose Emerald Hills Chess as your club team!