Kavin Mohan wins 20th Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Open
13-year-old FIDE Master Kavin Mohan (born 11th December 2011), seeded 16th exceeded his ranking with a fine 7/9 performance taking the 20th Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Open title at KL Gateway Mall, Kuala Lumpur. Winning the tournament as a host also brought great pride for Malaysia and Kavin who also made his second International Master Norm with a tournament rating performance of ELO 2456. The prestigious Malaysian Open had the participation of 89 players consisting of 3 Grandmasters and 10 International Masters among 39 FIDE titled players. The nine round Swiss tournament ran from 15th to 21st September, 2025. The chess festival of Malaysia attracted more than 1000 players involving seven tournaments viz., Open Team, Junior Team, Merdeka Blitz, Open Classical, Challengers Classical, Seniors Classical, Festival Blitz.
Kavin, training under Indian Grandmaster Akash Ganesan, remained undefeated with five wins and four draws. In the crucial final round Kavin drew with GM Nguyen Van Huy (Vietnam), while overcoming IMs Zou Chen (China) & Kushagra Mohan (India) prior to that. Kavin’s win at the Malaysian Open reminds one of a similar performance by a now 2700+ Grandmaster – Aravindh Chithambaram. The Chennai based Grandmaster Aravindh, then 14-years-old, started as the 53rd seed in the Chennai Grand Master International Open Chess Tournament 2013 – held along with the FIDE World Championship Match 2013 between Viswanathan Anand & Magnus Carlsen at Hotel Hyatt Regency, Chennai – and went on to win the strong Chennai GM International Open with a 9/11 score. A Grandmaster Norm along with ELO 2728 performance topped it up for Aravindh in 2013, who touched world top 10 briefly earlier this year.
It’s results of these kind that makes the world sit up and notice chess talents that are on the rise. Like Aravindh’s stunner in 2013, the Kavin Express in 2025 is bound to run far. The multi-event mega Malaysian chess festival ran smoothly under the able leadership of septuagenarian Chief Arbiter, International Arbiter Hamid Abd Hamid Bin Abd Majid, who last year had officiated as the Chief Arbiter for the FIDE World Championship 2024 match between GMs Ding Liren & Gukesh Dommaraju at Singapore.
Kavin represented Malaysia in the 45th Chess Olympiad 2024 at Budapest last year. Training harder, he’s now getting ready for the FIDE World Cup 2025 at Goa, India where he’d face formidable challenge from his peers.
Final standings: 1. Kavin Mohan (Malaysia) 7.0, 2-3 Zou Chen (China), Nguyen Van Huy (Vietnam) 6.5, 4-8 Jin Ruijun (China), Concio Michael Jr. (Philippines), Winkelman Albert (Australia), Nguyen Quoc Hy (Vietnam), Wong Yinn Long (Malaysia) 6.5, 9-11 Bacojo Mark Jay, Velarde Jerish John (both Philippines), Nguyen Duc Hoa (Vietnam) 6.0 pts (89 players)
Kavin Mohan (2309) – Kushagra Mohan (2432) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O b6 11. Rc1 cxd4 12. cxd4 Bb7 13. Bb5 Na5 14. d5 Qd6 15. Bd4 e6 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Qd4+ Kg8 18. Rfd1 Rfd8 19. Nc3 Rac8 20. Bf1 a6 21. e5 Qc5 22. Qf4 exd5 23. Nxd5 Qxd5 24. Rxd5 Bxd5 25. Rxc8 Rxc8 26. Bxa6 Rc5 27. a4 Be6 28. h3 Nc4 29. Qf6 h5 30. Qd8+ Kg7 31. Kh2 Kh7 32. Bb5 Kg7 33. f4 Kh7 34. Be8 Kg7 35. Qe7 Kg8 36. Bxf7+ Bxf7 37. e6 Bxe6 38. Qxe6+ Kg7 39. g4 hxg4 40. hxg4 Rc7 41. Kg3 Kh7 42. g5 Kg7 43. f5 gxf5 44. Qf6+ Kh7
45. g6+ 1-0
Pictures Courtesy: Dr Thiruchelvi Subpramaniam
Complete Results
