Deep Sengupta, who won the under-17 chess championship held at Chakradharpur. Picture by Uma Shankar Dubey

Jamshedpur, Oct. 11: The recently concluded under-17 national chess meet has turned out to be something to look forward to for the players of Chakradharpur who, barring local lad Deep Sengupta, had never been in the limelight.

The meet has also placed the railway town on the country?s chess map.

About 100 players from various states participated in the national meet organised by South Eastern Railway Sports Association (SERSA) Chess Academy at Railway Officers? Club from October 1-9.

All-India Chess Federation (AICF) held the championship. ?The national meet will certainly boost chess activities in Chakradharpur. We are looking forward to organise a rating tournament in 2006,? said Amit Kumar Medha, assistant in-charge of the SERSA Chess Academy.

He added that it is for the first time a national chess meet was organised in Jharkhand. Deep Sengupta, former world under-12 champion, emerged champion with 7.5 points in the boys? category while Abshishekh Das of Jamshedpur stood second with 7 points. S. Arun Prasad of Tamil Nadu finished third with 6.5 points.

Soumya Swaminathan of Venus Chess Academy, Mumbai, clinched the title in the girls? with 8.5 points while L. Aishwarya Shobhna (6 points) of Tamil Nadu stood second.

I. Ramya Krishna of Andhra Pradesh secured the third position with 6 points in her kitty. Ramya was awarded second position because of better progressive points. The championship was held under the nine-round Swiss League format. ?I wanted to clinch the title in my hometown, making me secure a place in the national pedestal. I had not fared well in the last under-17 meet,? said Deep, who is here to participate in the Tata All-India National Chess tournament.

The youngster with an Elo Rating of 2,359 added that national-level chess meets in Chakradharpur would have a positive affect on the mindset of emerging players of that town. The officials of the SERSA Chess Academy, which was established in April 1996 by Chakradharpur division of SER, said they had been trying to bag the hosting rights of the under-17 meet for some time.

?We were sure about AICF allotting us the national keep, as we have been affiliated to the national chess body for two years now. The response from the AICF was positive,? they added.

Medha, a former national-level player who is also one of the coaches of the SERSA Chess Academy, said West Singhbhum Chess Association (WSCA) had organised a junior state-level tournament before the national meet.

?Talented players of Chakradharpur, including Priyanka Kumari, who stood sixth in the under-7 and 9 nationals last year, did not secure a place in the nationals but did manage to get adequate exposure by playing against better junior players,? he said.