Asian under-12 boys’ champion Diptayan Ghosh stole the show in the fourth and fifth rounds of the National Challenger Chess Championship at Town Hall on Monday. Diptayan upset third seed, M.S. Thejkumar in the fourth round and went on to draw with Swapnil Dhopade in the fifth. Diptayan now has five points.
Thejkumar, playing black, opted for the Caro-Kann defence but he weakened his kingside in the middlegame. Diptayan neatly exploited the weaknesses in his opponent’s position with his better bishop and two rooks to force a mating net around his opponent’s king. P.D.S. Girinath of Railways emerged as the sole leader with five points after five rounds. Sayantan Das of Bengal beat higher rated K. Priyadarshan to take his tally to four points.
Sumit Kundu defeated Souvik Kar 4-2 to lift the men’s singles title at the state ranking meet, on Monday.
OTHER WINNERS: Youth boys — Pritam Bose; Junior boys — Sourav Ghosh; Sub-jr. boys — Swatata Pal; Cadet boys — Anirban Ghosh; Nursery boys — Jit Chanda; Women’s — Mousumi Pal; Youth girls — Shreya Ghosh; Junior girls — Krittika Sinha Roy; Sub-jr. girls — Sutirtha Mukherjee; Cadet girls — Rimpa Pal; Nursery girls — Poulomi Das.
The ninth West Bengal inter-school darts tournament, organised by the West Bengal Darts Association, will be held from Tuesday to Friday at the Assembly of God Church School premises.
