Bala Chandra Prasad Dhulipalla dominates at 6th Navin Kumar Sinha Memorial Rapid Rating 2026
IM Bala Chandra Prasad Dhulipalla won the 6th Navin Kumar Sinha Memorial International FIDE Rapid Rating Chess Championship 2026. He scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 points to clinch the title with a clear half-point lead over Arnav Agrawal, who scored 8/9 points and secured 2nd place. Utsab Chatterjee, Aaryan Varshney, Himal Gusain, and Prakhar Tripathi scored 7.5/9 to finish from 3rd to 6th place, respectively, according to their tiebreak scores. The tournament was organized by West Singhbhum District Chess Association at Khirwal Banquet Hall, Chaibasa, Jharkhand, on 15th March 2026. Photos: Basant Khandelwal
Last round victory helped him!
Going into the last round of the tournament, IM Bala Chandra Prasad Dhulipalla and IM Utsab Chatterjee were co-leading with 7.5/8 points and got paired against each other on board 1. Playing with the black pieces, IM Bala Chandra secured a victory against Utsab to clinch the title. He only drew one of his games against the runner-up of the tournament, Arnav Agrawal.
Chief guest -Deepak Birua, Minister of Transport, land reforms, and revenue, along with Nitin Prakash (Chairman, Nagar Parishad and title sponsor), Patron Dipendra Prasad Sao, Mukund Rungta (President, W.S.D.C.A), Basant Khandelwal (General Secretary, W.S.D.C.A), Pawan Khirwal
A total of 277 players, including GM Aaryan Varshney and four International Masters, took part from across the country in this one-day, 9-round Rapid Rating chess tournament.
Final Ranking after 9 Rounds
SNo |
| Name | Typ | sex | Gr | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | TB6 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | IM | IND | 2380 | Andhra Pradesh | 8,5 | 54 | 58,5 | 54,5 | 0 | 8 | 4 | |||||
2 | 5 | IND | 2186 | Uttar Pradesh | 8 | 54,5 | 59,5 | 51,5 | 0 | 7 | 3 | ||||||
3 | 3 | IM | IND | 2284 | Rspb | 7,5 | 54,5 | 59 | 46,5 | 0 | 7 | 4 | |||||
4 | 2 | IM | IND | 2319 | Delhi | 7,5 | 52,5 | 54,5 | 43,5 | 0 | 7 | 3 | |||||
5 | 6 | IM | IND | 2182 | Chandigarh | 7,5 | 51,5 | 55,5 | 43,5 | 0 | 7 | 3 | |||||
6 | 11 | CM | U15 | IND | 1993 | Uttar Pradesh | 7,5 | 48,5 | 51,5 | 40,75 | 0 | 7 | 3 | ||||
7 | 7 | IND | 2178 | West Bengal | 7 | 52 | 56 | 41 | 0 | 6 | 3 | ||||||
8 | 8 | FM | IND | 2053 | Rspb | 7 | 51,5 | 53,5 | 38,5 | 0 | 6 | 3 | |||||
9 | 10 | IND | 2032 | Rspb | 7 | 51,5 | 53,5 | 38,25 | 0 | 6 | 3 | ||||||
10 | 4 | IM | IND | 2281 | Rspb | 7 | 51 | 56 | 42 | 0 | 7 | 3 | |||||
11 | 12 | IND | 1941 | Bihar | 7 | 47,5 | 50,5 | 36,5 | 0 | 7 | 3 | ||||||
12 | 32 | AGM | IND | 1644 | Jharkhand | 7 | 47,5 | 48,5 | 34,5 | 0 | 6 | 3 | |||||
13 | 25 | IND | 1742 | Uttar Pradesh | 7 | 46,5 | 49,5 | 35,5 | 0 | 7 | 3 | ||||||
14 | 13 | AIM | IND | 1931 | Bihar | 7 | 44,5 | 48 | 35,25 | 0 | 6 | 2 | |||||
15 | 62 | IND | 1542 | Jharkhand | 7 | 42 | 45 | 31 | 0 | 7 | 3 |