Joydeep: Justifying top billing

Calcutta: Joydeep Dutta of Kumar Ashutosh Institution clinched the XV The Telegraph Schools’ Chess Championship Sunday at Alekhine Chess Club by drawing his last-round game against Baishaki Das of Jamshedpur.

Joydeep, in fact, was tied with Tanmoy Pattanayak of Mitra Institution (main) on 9 points, but won the coveted title on better progressive scores. For his efforts Joydeep will receive The Telegraph Trophy and a cash prize of Rs 10,000.

Needing only a draw for the title, Joydeep, achieved the same but not without last minute hiccups. Playing with the white pieces against Baishaki, Joydeep, at one time was in danger of losing his game as well as the title, but then, dame luck smiled on him as Baishaki blundered and drew.

Last round jitters affected Tanmoy, another title aspirant, as he took the safe way out by agreeing to a quick draw in a few moves against Souvik Chakraborty of Narmada High School.

With the draw, Tanmoy sealed his second place and a cash prize of Rs 7000.

Baishaki Das of R.K.M. Lady Indira Singh High School, Jamshedpur, had to be content with the third spot, on 8.5 points as she squandered an excellent game against Joydeep, only to draw after a prolonged effort by both players to squeeze out a win.

Souvik Chakraborty of Narmada High School was declared fourth while Samput Maalick of Holy Home took the fifth spot.

St James’ School, represented by Debayan Majumdar, Saurav Chakraborti, Soumya Thakurta and Varun Jain, was declared the best school totalling 31 points well ahead of second placed Don Bosco School, who scored 25 points.

RESULTS

Joydeep Dutta (9) drew with Baishaki Das (8.5); Souvik Chakraborty (8.5)drew with Tanmoy Pattanayak (9); Sourav Bose (8) lost to Mary Ann Gomes(8.5); Samput Mallick (8.5) bt Suchandra Chatterjee (7.5); Debayan Majumdar (8.5) bt Debaditta S. Biswas (7.5); Anurag Jaiswal (8.5) bt Suman Basu (7.5); Rajib Dhar (7.5) lost to Abinash Das (8.5); Himanshu S. Sharma (7) lost to Saurav Chakraborti (8); A. Jibanand Singh (7) lost to Soumya Thakurta (8); Manish Sharma (7) lost to Kh. Sanjoy Singh (8); Trailokya Nanda (7) lost to Minahazuddin A. Sagar (8); Ritam Bhaumik (7) lost to Kiran M Mohanty (8); Indradeep Giri (8) bt Shamima Akter Liza (7); Satish Kumar (7) lost to Sankar Majumdar (7.5); Supriya Maji (7.5) bt Ankan Modak (6.5); Swayams Mishra (7.5) btVarun Jain (6.5); Arpan Sarkar (Sr) (6.5) lost to Amritesh Ray (7.5); Abhratanu Dutta (7.5) bt N. T. Rama Rao (6.5); Rohan Shah (7) drew with Priya Ratnam (7); Antaratara Ghosh (7) drew with Mahfuzur Rahman (7); L. Shakespear (7.5) bt Indranil Chattopadyay (6.5); Diptanu Das (6.5) lost to A. Debanand Singh (7); Shaati Majumdar (6) lost to Sandipan Chatterjee (7); Biswajyoti Choudhuri (6) lost to Sumit Shaw (7); Thampsan Sahoo (7) bt Lopamudra Guha (6); Arindam Das (7) bt Tathagata Das (6); Suddhasattwa Das (6) lost to Dipayan Ghosh (7); Pallabi Roy (6) lost to Bitan Banerjee(7); Mohana Sengupta (6) lost to Antarip Roy (7); Aniruddha Menon(7) bt Soumya Talukdar (6); Arinjoy Ganguly (6.5) drew with Sriya Bhattacharya (6.5); Arijit Sinha (6.5) drew with Subhrangsu Chakraborty (6.5); Anirban Kar (6) lost to Satyajit Kundu (7); Subhabrata Das (7) bt Parag Honny (6); Kinjal Basu (6) lost to Utsav Das (7).