As we reach the halfway point of the DINI International Chess Championship 2024, GM Diptayan Ghosh of India is leading the tournament with an impressive 4.5/5 points. IM Madhavan N B Hari of India is closely following, also with 4.5/5 points, currently ranked second. Eleven players are in close pursuit with 4/5 points, including Sri Lanka’s own Elath Mathanga De Silva, who is among the top ten players.
Highlights of Sri Lankan Players’ Performances
Fifth Round Results
Ravi Prabath Dickmadugodage (ELO 1894) drew with GM P Karthikeyan (ELO 2316).
Fourth Round Results
- D M T Kashyapa Kulasekara (ELO 1902) drew with IM Kirill Kuderinov (ELO 2360) of Kazakhstan.
- D D L N Dandeniya (ELO 1939) drew with GM P Karthikeyan (ELO 2316) of India.
Third Round Results
- Sivanathan Sivathanujan (ELO 1968) drew with GM Boris Savchenko (ELO 2470) of Russia.
- Kodithuwakku Lisara (ELO 1799) drew with IM Poorna Sharma Mithrakanth (ELO 2229) of India.
Second Round Results
- Sivanathan Sivathanujan (ELO 1968) defeated GM Sayantan Das (ELO 2491) of India.
- WCM K M Dahamd Sanudula (ELO 1876) drew with IM Madhavan N B Hari (ELO 2386) of India.
- AFM B Janukshan (ELO 1840) drew with GM Alexei Barsov (ELO 2324) of Uzbekistan.
- T A Sajith Chathuran Obeysekara (ELO 1814) drew with IM Poorna Sharma Mithrakanth (ELO 2229) of India.
First Round Results
- FM Chinthaka Anuruddha Galappaththi (ELO 1924) drew with IM Ajay Karthikeyan (ELO 2401) of India.
- D M T Kashyapa Kulasekara (ELO 1902) drew with AGM B Vignesh (ELO 2245) of India.
- Vinuka Dihain Wijerathna (ELO 1895) drew with FM Amir Mohammad Hamidi (ELO 2209) of Iran.
The DINI International Chess Championship 2024, which commenced on July 29th and will run until August 4th at Mount Lavinia Hotel, is an international GM tournament organized by the Blue & Gold Chess Club. The tournament features a prize fund of USD 20,000 (six million Sri Lankan rupees). The open champion will receive nine hundred thousand Sri Lankan rupees, while the women’s champion will be awarded two hundred fifty thousand Sri Lankan rupees. This tournament is renowned as the strongest chess event in Sri Lankan history.
A total of 157 players are competing, including ten Grand Masters, six International Masters, one Woman International Master, and five FIDE Masters. GM Diptayan Ghosh (ELO 2568) of India is the top seed. The tournament is being held in a ten-round Swiss format with a time control of 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment from move one.
The sixth round is set to start at 4:30 PM on August 1st, 2024, promising more exciting games ahead. Stay tuned with ChessSL for updates on this thrilling chess event brought to you by the Blue & Gold Chess Club.
