Chess player Debasish Das arrives at Bhubaneswar airport on Monday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, July 29: Twenty-year-old chess champ Debasish Das from Odisha returned with his 3rd grandmaster norm from the Czech Republic today.

Das, who took part in the Czech Open International Grandmaster Chess Tournament, is now only five Elo points (chess rating points) away from becoming the first grandmaster of the state.

To earn the title, a player must have three grandmaster norms and a very high Elo rating.

Debasish had secured his first grandmaster norm in August 2012 at the World Junior Chess Championships in Greece and earned his second norm in May this year at the Dubai Open Chess. He had become an International Master in 2010.

Grabbing his third norm was not an easy task for him says Debasish. “After Dubai Open, I took part in a tournament in Bulgaria. But I could not do well because beyond four hours, I failed to hold on to my patience and got tired. This time I took an apartment and lived alone in Bhubaneswar, away from my family to practice for the Czech Open. I used to watch games continuously for four hours and once I got exhausted I took up even more tiring analysis of different situations,” said the chess prodigy.

Debasish, who was introduced to chess as a six-year-old, analysed keenly the Meran variation for opening and studied 200 different situations of the board. His sheer dedication and determination took him ahead towards his goal.

“Practice turned out to be very helpful during the final stages of the tournament. After losing the seventh game to an Ukranian grandmaster, I had left hope of earning a grandmaster norm. This was the most frustrating and depressing phase I have ever experienced during a tournament. But, I thought I would play my best and gather as many points as possible. I opened all the last three matches and during the eighth and ninth match, the Meran tactics came handy. I won it convincingly and then in the last round faced grandmaster 101 points above me in rating. But I kept my nerves calm and used basic principles to beat him,” said an excited Debasish.

He will get back to practice from tomorrow for the World Junior Chess Championship to be held in Turkey in September.

“There is very little time and I am aiming at clinching at least one medal in the championship,” said the youngster.

Chess gurus in Odisha are ecstatic and are eagerly waiting for Debasish to become the first grandmaster of the state.

“His achievement is simply great and fantastic. Another five Elo points and he will be right on top. He has already made it to the top 20 of India. We wish him all the best,” said Vivek Tibrewal, veteran chess player and secretary of All-Odisha Chess Association.