2nd Ocean Villas Chess Open 2025 Recap

What a great tournament at the stunning Ocean Villas Hotel—chess by the beach with a beautiful sea view and delicious complimentary snacks (croissants, pain au chocolat, sandwiches)!

The tournament was convincingly won by Zouhaier Salhi (Tunisian origin) with a perfect score of 5/5, defeating strong players like CM Chinasamy and 4-time Mauritius Champion Gavin Anderson.


As for my own performance:
I scored 4/5, winning most of my games comfortably.


My only loss came in Round 3 against CM Chinasamy (1971 Rapid FIDE).
Rd 3 Loss:

He played the Grand Prix Attack against my Sicilian. I made a couple of key mistakes—12...d5 instead of 12...Nxf3, and later 17...Qa7 instead of 17...Nc6, which left me down a pawn. He converted it accurately.

I tied for 3rd but ended up 5th on tiebreaks (same score and tiebreaks as Vicken Sawmynaden). There was only one chess book prize for 5th, and Vicken generously gave it to me—thank you!

Overall, it was a fantastic tournament, both in terms of performance and experience.

“Be still, and know that I am God.” – Psalms 46:10