Diptayan Ghosh halts Surya Sekhar Ganguly’s winning streak at National Chess Championship

In a stunning turn of events at the 61st National Chess Championship, Diptayan Ghosh managed to halt Surya Sekhar Ganguly’s winning streak by securing a draw against the top seed. Ganguly had been on a remarkable run with seven consecutive victories, but Diptayan was able to hold him to a draw in their match at the RPS International School.

Despite the draw, Ganguly still maintains a one-point lead in the championship with 7.5 points. Following closely behind him are a group of players, including Diptayan, defending champion S.P. Sethuraman, Himal Gusain, Karthik Venkataraman, Aronyak Ghosh, Ajay Karthikeyan, Sriram Jha, M.R. Lalith Babu, and Arjun Adireddy, all with 6.5 points.

Notable upsets in the eighth round included Ajay Karthikeyan defeating the second-seeded Abhijeet Gupta and Sriram Jha overcoming N.R. Visakh. Ajay admitted to being a bit lucky in his victory over Gupta, while Jha’s strategic play paid off against Visakh.

The top-board game between Ganguly and Diptayan ended in a quiet draw after 68 moves in their Spanish Game. With just three rounds remaining, the competition is heating up as players vie for the top spot in the championship.