National Chess Championship 2024: Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly occupies pole position after Round 5

By Aditi Srinivas

Modified Aug 21, 2024 22:22 IST

Surya Shekhar is right on top after the completion of fifth round. (Image via Surya Shekhar/Instagram) — Surya Shekhar is right on top after the completion of fifth round. (Image via Instagram/@suryasekharchess)

The fifth round of the National Chess Championship 2024 came to an end in Gurugram, Haryana with Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly leading the pack with five points along with Neelash Saha and Aronyak Ghosh.

While nine players held four points with four consecutive wins after Round 4, only three players are leading after the fifth round - Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Neelash Saha, and Aronyak Ghosh. Sayantan Das, Karthik Venkataram, Diptayan Ghosh, Sethuraman SP, and Aakash G occupy the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth ranks respectively.

A few of the top players settled for draws in Round 5 with some interesting pairings set to be a part of the sixth round. The top two players Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Neelash Saha will take on each other in Round 6.

National Chess Championship 2024, Round 5: Results (Top 15 Players)

Surya Shekhar Ganguly 1 - 0 Deep Sengupta

Neelash Saha 1 - 0 Sankalp Gupta

Aronyak Ghosh 1 - 0 Venkatesh MR

Sayantan Das ½ - ½ Karthik Venkataraman

Diptayan Ghosh 1 - 0 Zahid Raihaan

Aakash G 1 - 0 Nikhil Shyaam P

Antonio Dcunha Viani ½ - ½ Vignesh NR

Visakh NR ½ - ½ Laxman RR

Swapnil S Dhopade ½ - ½ Sriram Jha

Esshan Wadhawan 1 - 0 Sammed Jaykumar Shete

National Chess Championship 2024, Round 5: Top 20 rankings

1. Surya Shekhar Ganguly - 5 Points

2. Neelash Saha - 5 Points

3. Aronyak Ghosh - 5 Points

4. Sayanatan Das - 4.5 Points

5. Karthik Venkataraman - 4.5 Points

6. Diptayan Ghosh - 4.5 Points

7. Sethuraman SP - 4.5 Points

8. Aakash G - 4.5 Points

9. Venkatesh MR - 4 Points

10. Antonio Dcunha Viani - 4 Points

11. Sankalp Gupta - 4 Points

12. Zahid Raihaan - 4 Points

13. Visakh NR - 4 Points

14. Swapnil S Dhopade - 4 Points

15. Esshan Wadhawan - 4 Points

16. Vignesh NR - 4 Points

17. Sriram Jha - 4 Points

18. Adireddy Arjun - 4 Points

19. Krishna CRG - 4 Points

20. Ajay Karthikeyan - 4 Points

National Chess Championship 2024, Round 6: Top 5 ranked players pairings

Surya Shekhar Ganguly vs Neelash Saha

Aronyak Ghosh vs Sethuraman SP

Sayantan Das vs Aakash G

Karthik Venkataraman vs Diptayan Ghosh

Edited by Yash Singh