May 2026 at Hidden Hills Elementary

156 players of all ages and levels competed at the Tri-Valley May Open at Hidden Hills Elementary in San Ramon, a co-presentation of Emerald Hills Chess and the Tri-Valley Chess League, and part of our monthly tournament series. 

In our 36-player Championship (1000+) Quads, we awarded almost $1,000 to our first-place winners:

Group 1 (2000+ avg, $220 split): WFM and Emerald Hills Coach Saikhanchimeg “Sana” Tsogtsaikhan and Candidate Master Sivavishnu Srinivasan

Group 2 (1600+, $140 first): Calvin Hou and Alexandru Chu

Group 3 (1500+, $120 first): Tristan Ma

Group 4 (1400+, $100 first): Vu Lan Tien (Peter)

Group 5 (1300+, $80 split): Prafulla Rawal and Aaron Ahsan* (Thurs Night Free Chess)

Group 6 (1300+, $80 first): Prachet Kowlani

Group 7 (1200+, $80 split): Rishaan Nair and Joshua Zenarosa

Group 8 (1100+, $80 split): Sairaghav Kumar and Ryan Banerjee

Group 9 (1000+, $80 first): Blake Ding

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

Hey Championship 1000+ players! please fill out our survey and let us know if you love the current Quads or would like to see 4-round Swisses return.

In the 34-player Experts (U1200) section, Arham Shah and Annika Majumder both went a perfect 4-0 to win $75 each. 

There was a six-way tie for third at 3-1, in tiebreak order: Vincent Winderl* (Homeschoolers), Shivansh Chejerla, Reyansh Mane* (John Green), Hridhaan Pavle, Tong Hsieh-Lin* (Sunday tourney training), and Aditi Sinha. Winderl and Pavle shared the $50 Top U1000 cash prize.

Top U1000 players were Advik Nuti* (John Green) and Oliver Yu* (Sunday).

In the 32-player Premier (U800) section, Gerry Laird* (Thurs Night Free Chess) and Rishvik Paruchuri tied for first with perfect 4-0 scores.

Six players tied for third at 3-1: Proneil Chakrabarty, Tristan Wong* (Walnut Grove), Dhruv Anandharaman* (Mohr), Karan Simha Kadaba* (Hearst), Kian Khan* (Valley View), and Ayaan Karia* (Mohr).

Advik Krishnadas Angayarkanni* (Sunday) was the top U600 player. Jiaxuan He and Aarav Nayak* (John Green) rounded out the Top 10, while Jayden Wong and Ian Ding picked up Outstanding Performer trophies.

In the 30-player K12 Challenger (U400), Charit Appana and Prajan Sundaramoorthy tied for first with perfect 4-0 scores. Anish Kumar* (Cottonwood) tied for 3rd at 3.5-0.5

Five players tied for 4th place at 3-1: Reyansh Saxena, Alina Razdan* (Walnut Grove), Aditya Girish, last month’s winner Sumedh Kollipara* (Thurs Night Chess), and Arjun Srinivas* (Walnut Grove).

Top U200/unrated were Atharv Sandeep and Titus Blatt* (Donlon).

In the 23-player non-rated Novices, Amin-Erdene Batbayar took first with a perfect 5-0 record. 

Four players tied for 2nd at 4-1: Tarun Prabhu, Kiann Benjamin, Arjun Winston* (Hidden Hills), and Bilegt Sumiyabaatar. Cory Ha* (Sunday) and Aditya Dasika were the top K-2 players.

Final Standings in tiebreak order and Tiebreakers explained

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

(Note: See your current published rating at your player profile in the USCF rating database, which is used by tournaments for section placement. Click on Tournament History in the upper right to see your live rating, including results from the Tri-Valley Open and other events within the last 30 days.)

Thank Yous

From lead organizers Emerald Hills Chess’s Eric Lai and Bhavna Jain to:

• Chief Tournament Director Scott Mason

• Floor TDs Viren Sethi, Naman Jain, and Reyansh Nuti from Emerald High School, Shulin (Tiger) Lu and Skand Bajpal from the Tri-Valley Chess League, and Anandharaman Pattabiraman* (Thurs Night Free Chess).

Next Tri-Valley Open Coming June 13th (Link coming soon)

• 50+ individual trophies and ~$1,000 in cash prizes over five rated/unrated sections 

• Efficient 1/2-day schedule with byes available

• Register early to save $10

• Beat the heat while competing for fun, prizes and rating points!

Fun, competitive summer camps and tournament training classes - Catch discounts for siblings and early birds by Friday May 15th.