Diptayan Ghosh wins Festival Caissa Navaratna Blitz Rating Open 2026

GM Diptayan Ghosh, IM Kushagra Mohan, IM C R G Krishna, GM Visakh N R, IM Hari Madhavan N B and GM Pranav Anand scored 7.5/9 at Navaratna Blitz Rating Open 2026, part of Festival Caissa Grand Prix. Diptayan won the tournament on tie-breaks. The remaning five were placed second to sixth respectively. The total prize fund was ₹500000. The top three prizes were ₹100000 + trophy, ₹75000 and ₹50000 each. This was Diptayan’s first tournament triumph of the year.

Top six score 7.5/9

This was the first event of the Festival Caissa Grand Prix series. The tournament was already a success due to an enormous participation of GMs, IMs, WGMs and WIMs – 48 in total. It is not everyday one get to see so many titled and top players of the country take part in a non-GM tournament. It might be difficult to top this for the rest of year in any rating open tournaments in India.

Five players – GM Diptayan Ghosh, IM Kushagra Mohan, GM Visakh N R, IM Hari Madhavan N B and GM Pranav Anand were the five players at 7/8 each, heading into the final round. GM Arjun Kalyan drew against Diptayan and the latter became the champion. GM Pranav Anand drew against Kushagra who finished second. GM Mitrabha Guha lost to IM C R G Krishna, he claimed third place.

Champion – GM Diptayan Ghosh 7.5/9 | Photo: FI NA Sushruta Reddy / Innovators Chess Academy

Runner-up – IM Kushagra Mohan 7.5/9 | Photo: FI NA Sushruta Reddy / Innovators Chess Academy

Second Runner-up – IM C R G Krishna 7.5/9 | Photo: FI NA Sushruta Reddy / Innovators Chess Academy

GM Diptayan Ghosh scored an unbeaten 7.5/9, won the tournament on tie-breaks and gained 5.1 Elo rating points

Best Female 1st – IM Padmini Rout 6/9 | Photo: FI NA Sushruta Reddy / Innovators Chess Academy

Best Female 2nd – WGM Priyanka Nutakki 6/9 | Photo: FI NA Sushruta Reddy / Innovators Chess Academy

The man whose brainchild was this GP – FI NA Sushruta Reddy also participated in this event | Photo: Innovators Chess Academy

Top boards on the stage | Photo: FI NA Sushruta Reddy / Innovators Chess Academy

The tournament hall at Silicon City Academy of Secondary Education | Photo: FI NA Sushruta Reddy / Innovators Chess Academy

A total of 191 players including 11 GMs, 30 IMs, 4 WGMs and 3 WIMs took part from all over the country, two from England and one from Kenya. The one-day nine-round Blitz Rating Open tournament was organized by Innovators Chess Academy at Silicon City Academy of Secondary Education in Bengaluru, Karnataka on 23rd January 2026. The time control of the tournament was 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment.

Final standings

Details