Format
DJ
Dinham, James
🇿🇦FIDE 14327023· Male· South Africa· Born in 2003
Follow James DinhamTrack his monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
James Dinham, a 23-year-old South African player, is rated 2174 — his current career high and ranked 19th among South African players, and in the top 4% worldwide. He is climbing fast, having gained +200 Elo over the past 12 months. 67 rated games in the past year (≈36/year long-term). Recent standard appearances include EC Open 2026 (Open), 2026 South African Closed Chess Championships (Open), and 2026 MCA Welcome Tshwane (A). Also played 2 rapid (including FIDE World Rapid Championship 2025) and 2 blitz events (including FIDE World Blitz Championship 2025) recently. He reached South African #21 in Apr 2026.
At junior level, he reached #2, #3, #9 and #12 nationally in U20, U18, U16 and U14.
Current rating
2174
Standard
Rpd2136·Blz2025
All-time high
2174
at best
Jun 2026 · age 23
Jun 2026 · age 23
Activity
51
games / yr avg. · ≈4/mo
54 past 12 mo · ≈5/mo
classical only
Active
classical only
Active
Signature stat
#19
#19 · South African players · of 1,804
Career timeline
12 entries2026
All-time peak 2174
at age 23
Jun 2026
Peak South African rank: #21
at age 23 · rated 2166
Apr 2026
Best 12-month gain (+221 Elo)
1945 → 2166
Apr 2026
Crossed 2100
at age 23
Mar 2026
2025
Crossed 2000
at age 22
Jul 2025
2023
2nd South African U20 player
at age 20 · rated 1928
Dec 2023
Standard rating history
Peak
FIDE title
Threshold
First rated
COVID-19
FIDE recal.
Activity & highlights
Top opponent
Evolution
+170
2004 → 2174
Tournaments
7
64 games
Score
38/ 6459.4%
38W16D10L
Top 3 wins
Top 3 losses
Last 12 months — tournaments
7 events| Event | Date | Score | Rank | Perf | Δ Elo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Open Swiss | Apr 2026 | 4.5/8 | #16 | 2208 | +9.8 |
Swiss | Apr 2026 | 5.5/7 | #1 | 2063 | -2.2 |
Round-Robin | Feb 2026 | 6.5/11 | #5 | 2286 | +57.8 |
Swiss | Jan 2026 | 4.5/5 | #1 | 2261 | +16.6 |
Open Swiss | Jun 2025 | 8.5/11 | #1 | 2288 | +87.0 |
Swiss | Jun 2025 | 5.5/7 | #2 | 2129 | +27.6 |
Swiss | Jun 2025 | 3/5 | #4 | 1968 | +1.2 |
Most-Played Opponents
vsBanele MhangoFM
🇿🇦RSA·2268
+2 −6 =4
12 games·last met Apr 2026
View head-to-head →
vsProvidence OatlhotseIM
🇧🇼BOT·2225
+2 −6 =0
8 games·last met Apr 2026
View head-to-head →
vsKeith KhumaloCM
🇿🇦RSA·2201
+3 −4 =1
8 games·last met Jun 2025
View head-to-head →
vsMichael SimpsonIM
🇿🇦RSA·2221
+2 −1 =3
6 games·last met Apr 2026
View head-to-head →
vsMatfey RogovFM
🇷🇺RUS·2369
+0 −4 =1
5 games·last met Apr 2026
View head-to-head →
Rankings
/
South Africa
#19
out of 1,876 players
Africa
#145
in continent
World
#9,680
out of 400,000+
National ranking
Europe & World
Europe
World
South Africa
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