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SRM Scores Hat-Trick

SRM Scores Hat-Trick

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The autumn season of the 2025 India College Chess Championship concluded with SRM Institute of Science and Technology winning the event for the third time in a row—completing a hat-trick! The team took home a cash prize of ₹3,00,000 (approximately $3,384). Shri Ram College of Commerce bagged second and won ₹2,00,000. St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, and BITS Pilani Hyderabad secured third and fourth and won ₹1,20,000 and ₹60,000, respectively. 

Interesting Moments

GM Srihari L R of SRM Institute of Technology and Science outplayed his opponent in a great queenless middlegame. By the end of the 19th move, every piece had been committed to some action. He continued to play on both sides and that worked very well. 

This tragic comedy happened in one of the games between SRM and SRCC. It is a nice trick to remember in online bullet scrambles. 

Mohammad Anees of SRM played an unusual rook maneuver that was the turning point in the game. After attaining an edge with the unusual rook shift, he kept increasing his advantage and eventually won.                                         

In another curious moment, a pawn that seemed innocuous became deadly after White followed the "rook on the seventh rank" policy. 

Following the theme of the strategic moments shown above, here is an example of an instructive mistake made on the 24th move.
Before heading to the final standings, I'm leaving you with a puzzle. 
                                      
Why is castling a blunder?

Standings of Top 5 Divisions

Kudos to all the teams that participated in the third edition of the India College Chess Championship! We may see new faces and fresh teams in the upcoming seasons.

Congratulations to SRM-A on winning the event for the third time in a row. Considering their success so far, there is a great chance that they may continue this trend for a really long time. 




These are the final standings for the top four teams of the first three divisions:

Division 1

  1. SRM Institute of Science and Technology
  2. Shri Ram College of Commerce
  3. St. Xavier's College, Kolkata
  4. BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus

Division 2

  1. St. Joseph's College of Engineering
  2. Parul University
  3. BITS Pilani Goa Campus
  4. Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad

Division 3

  1. GLS Univeristy
  2. Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune
  3. Indian Institute of Technology
  4. PSG College of Arts and Science

You can also check out the standings. 


Stay tuned for the next season!

The India College Chess Championship is the premier online chess competition for college students in India. It is a team event featuring a $15,000 prize fund.