Debarshi wins 56th West Bengal State Open 2018

by Shahid Ahmed - 30/10/2018

Debarshi Mukherjee scored 8.5/10 and won 56th West Bengal State Open Championship 2018. Thus qualifying for the upcoming National Open Senior Championship 2018. Defending champion Neelash Saha scored 7.5/10 and secured 2nd position. He drew with the eventual champion of the tournament in the last round. Gopal Chandra Biswas made a strong comeback in this tournament, scored 7.5/10 and secured 3rd position due to a better tie-break score. In this report, we bring you photos from the tournament. Photo: Swati Biswas

Debarshi wins his maiden State Open title

Due to the number of tournaments getting increased so much these days that it allows a player to pick and choose which one they wish to play. The tournament clashing with Goa GM tournament and festivities around the corner resulted in low number of participants. A few years 160 participants would mean a lot for a State championship but these days it's just a meagre number.

Champion Debarshi Mukherjee with the glittering trophy and ₹21000 cash | Photo: Swati Biswas

Two IM-norm holder, Debarshi Mukherjee headed into the final round with a full one point lead over five other players at 7.0/9. A draw in the last round guaranteed him a championship, well a loss would mean the defending champion Neelash Saha winning for the second year in a row. Debarshi managed to hold a draw and secure his first State title.

Photo Gallery:

Top boards in action

89-year old Madhu Sudan Mukherjee is the oldest active player in the state and perhaps the country. He scored 4.0/10

The tournament witnessed the participation of 24 women players

The tournament hall

Arbiters (L to R): IA Asit Baran Chowdhury, IA Debasish Barua and NA Swapan Adhikari

Tournament flex

Round 1 starting moments of top 10 board

Prize Distribution Ceremony photos:

Neelash Saha scored 7.5/10 and due to a better tie-break score secured 2nd position. He got a trophy and ₹15000 cash | Photo: Swati Biswas

Gopal Chandra Biswas performed well after a long time, scored 7.5/10 and settled for 3rd position. He took home ₹10000 cash | Photo: Swati Biswas

Former State champion Sandip Dey scored 7.5/10 and he was placed 4th place. He won ₹8000 cash | Photo: Swati Biswas

Sarbojit Paul continued his terrific form in the state, scored 7.5/10 and finished at 5th position. He bagged home ₹6000 cash | Photo: Swati Biswas

Bishal Basak had his best performance in state championship scoring 7.5/10 and secured 6th position. He won ₹5000 cash and increased his ELO Rating by 46 points | Photo: Swati Biswas

Niladri Sekhar Bhattacharya, professional trainer, maintained his seeding and finished at 7th position with a score of 7.5/10. He got ₹4000 cash | Photo: Swati Biswas

After winning Silchar Open few days ago, Arpan Das lost his momentum, scored 7.5/10 and had to settle for 8th position. He bagged home ₹3000 cash | Photo: Swati Biswas

Kaustuv Kundu's woes continued as he scored 7.5/10 and finished at 9th position. He got ₹2500 cash | Photo: Swati Biswas

13-year old Pratyay Chowdhury had the best finish of the tournament. He scored 7.5/10, gained 103 rating points and was placed 10th. He won ₹2000 cash | Photo: Swati Biswas

Parikshit Majumder scored 7.0/10, increased 57 rating points and due to a better tie-break score he finished at 11th position. He got ₹1500 cash | Photo: Swati Biswas

Swarnava Biswas scored 7.0/10 and was placed 12th. He got ₹1500 cash | Photo: Swati Biswas

Satya Sekhar Mitra scored 7.0/10 and secured 13th position. He won ₹1500 cash | Photo: Swati Biswas

Arijit Ghosh scored 7.0/10, gained 96 ELO rating points and he was placed 14th. He took home ₹1500 cash | Photo: Swati Biswas

Subhabrata Roy scored 7.0/10, increased his rating by 82 points and finished at 15th position. He won ₹1500 cash | Photo: Swati Biswas

A short interview with the champion:

Shahid Ahmed (SA): Congratulations for winning 56th West Bengal State Open. How does it feel to become champion for the very first time?

Debarshi Mukherjee (DM): I am very happy to be the 56th State Champion. Senior State championship has always held a special place compared to any other tournament in West Bengal. Yes this is my first although I had won a national selection tournament previously.

SA: What is the reason behind your triumph?

DM: I was a bit lucky but I was very motivated to win this event. Roktim Bandyopadhyay is my coach. Aagard and Dvoretsky's books helped me a lot.

SA: What was the last championship you have won?

DM: I won a Rapid event just two days before the Senior State Championship and the DBCA rating event in Dec 2016

SA: Whom will you give credit for your success?

DM: My mother and my coach.

SA: How difficult/easy is to balance your work and chess?

DM: It is getting very difficult for me to manage both. There are no special leave for tournaments.

SA: What is your aim in chess?

DM: Getting International Master title is my immediate aim.

SA: What are the next tournaments you are planning to play?

DM: I will be playing in Dhaka

SA: Tata Steel India 2018 Super GM tournament is taking place in your hometown Kolkata in a few days. How excited are you about it? Whom are you looking forward to see live in action?

DM: I am very excited and I will be looking forward to seeing the world's best in action. I have never seen them play live so it's a huge thing for me to watch each and every one of them playing.

The tournament was organized by Bengal Chess Association and City Chess Forum from 9th-13th October 2018 at Kalatan Community Hall in Kolkata. The tournament witnessed the participation of 160 players from various districts of West Bengal.

Final standings after round 10

Rk.	SNo	Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	3	Debarshi Mukherjee			IND	2300	8,5	0,0	62,5	67,5	54,75	7	10	8,5	8,14	0,36	20	7,2
2	1	Neelash Saha			IND	2370	7,5	0,0	65,0	70,0	50,00	5	10	7,5	8,60	-1,10	20	-22,0
3	14	Biswas Gopal Chandra			IND	1810	7,5	0,0	62,0	66,0	47,00	7	10	7,5	6,19	1,31	20	26,2
4	11	Sandip Dey			IND	1867	7,5	0,0	61,0	66,5	43,75	7	10	7,5	6,43	1,07	20	21,4
5	9	Sarbojit Paul			IND	1923	7,5	0,0	61,0	66,0	44,00	5	10	7,5	5,93	1,57	20	31,4
6	18	Basak Bishal			IND	1703	7,5	0,0	60,5	65,5	47,75	6	10	7,5	5,19	2,31	20	46,2
7	7	Bhattacharya Niladri Shekhar			IND	2037	7,5	0,0	59,5	63,5	45,25	6	10	7,5	7,79	-0,29	20	-5,8
8	5	Arpan Das			IND	2164	7,5	0,0	58,0	62,5	45,75	6	10	7,5	9,01	-1,51	20	-30,2
9	2	Kaustuv Kundu			IND	2369	7,5	0,0	56,5	60,5	41,75	7	10	7,5	8,84	-1,34	20	-26,8
10	33	Pratyay Chowdhury	13B		IND	1542	7,5	0,0	54,0	58,0	40,25	7	9	6,5	3,93	2,57	40	102,8
11	30	Parikshit Majumder			IND	1561	7,0	0,0	58,0	63,0	41,00	6	10	7	5,57	1,43	40	57,2
12	23	Swarnava Biswas			IND	1666	7,0	0,0	58,0	62,0	41,25	6	10	7	6,55	0,45	40	18,0
13	21	Satya Sekhar Mitra			IND	1686	7,0	0,0	53,5	57,5	38,50	4	10	7	7,66	-0,66	20	-13,2
14	51	Arijit Ghosh			IND	1413	7,0	0,0	52,0	54,5	35,50	7	9	6	3,61	2,39	40	95,6
15	41	Subhabrata Roy			IND	1469	7,0	0,0	51,0	55,0	36,25	6	8	6	3,96	2,04	40	81,6

Links:

ChessBase India t-shirts are now available in Amazon India

Related news:

	Savitha Shri Baskar: The next big name in Women chess @ 27/08/2022 by Himank Ghosh (en)
	चेन्नई ग्रांडमास्टर ओपेनः एन आर विसाख, विष्णु प्रसन्ना ने बनाई संयुक्त बढ़त @ 23/01/2020 by Nitesh Srivastava (hi)
	आकाश व विदुला बने अंडर 9 नेशनल चैम्पियन @ 25/08/2019 by Nitesh srivastava (hi)
	प्रखर और सेरा बने अंडर 13 मध्य प्रदेश चैम्पियन @ 22/04/2019 by चेसबेस इंडिया हिन्दी (hi)
	अब यूपी में आयु वर्ग की सभी प्रतियोगिता होगी फीडे रेटेड @ 14/04/2019 by नीतेश श्रीवास्तव (hi)
	Suvrajit Saha wins 3rd CCPA Open 2018 @ 22/01/2019 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Prantik Roy wins 1st Golf Green Rapid Rating 2018 @ 21/11/2018 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Gujarat GM Open R10: Kravtsiv topples Vignesh for the title @ 13/10/2018 by Aditya Pai (en)
	Gujarat GM Open R9: Vignesh NR takes sole lead @ 11/10/2018 by Aditya Pai (en)