Winner Sayantan Das (centre) is flanked by Diptayan Ghosh (left) who ended second, and S. Prasannaa, who finished third, at Gorky Sadan, on Sunday. Picture by Gautam Bose

Calcutta: Sayantan Das successfully defended his title by winning the 22nd The Telegraph Schools’ Chess Championship, which concluded at Gorky Sadan, on Sunday. The 13-year-old defending champion finished with 10 points in the tournament organised by Alekhine Chess Club and presented by Himani Sona Chandi Chyawanprash.

All eyes were on Sayantan, Sunday, when he started his final round game against N.R. Vignesh of Maharshi Vidya Mandir (Tamil Nadu) on the top board. With a lead of a point and better tie-breaking score, everyone expected the Scottish Church student to accept a quick draw to seal the title. But Sayantan pressed on in a Sicilian defence twice spurning draw offers from Vignesh.

He finally, agreed to draw on the 35 th move with little left to play for in the game. Apart from improving his rating, Sayantan will be richer by Rs 21,000 when he receives the trophy and the winner’s cheque from multiple grand slam winner Leander Paes on Monday.

S. Prasannaa of Velammal Matriculation H.S. School, Tamil Nadu, and Diptayan Ghosh of South Point, scored 9.5 points each. But Prasannaa edged the latter for the second spot as he had a better score in the Buchholz tie-break system.

Prasannaa, playing with black, against his state-mate N.R. Visakh of Maharshi Vidya Mandir won a couple of pawns in a Sicilian defence after which it was a matter of technique for Prasannaa, who is trained by grandmaster R.B. Ramesh.

Diptayan Ghosh overcame tough resistance from Saurabh Mandal of Shivlal High School, Jharkhand, in a Two Knight’s defence. Diptayan sacrificed his queen for two rooks and latter sacrificed his rook for a knight after which his central pawn was unstoppable.

Chandrasish Majumdar ensured the fourth place in a miniature game against Sraman Bhowmick of Scottish Church.

Aubropratim Manna of Don Bosco, Park Circus, exploited the irregular moves in an English opening of South Point’s Kaustuv Kundu to win the game in 42 moves.

Mitrabha Guha was in tears after he squandered a tame draw against second seed, Prince Bajaj of Delhi Public School, Ghaziabad. Mitrabha, who is the reigning National U-9 champion, is being trained by grandmaster Dibyendu Barua.

Yudhajeet De, a blind student of Mahesh High School, performed credibly to finish the meet on 6.5 points. His twin, Deeptyajeet De, who is partially blind, also played well to total 6 points.

Also commendable was Mangal Hembrom’s feat, who ended the championship on 6 points. Hembrom, who was playing his first tournament, is a student of The Future Hope School, a school for under-privileged children.

South Point High School was declared the best school with a total score of 33 points. There was a 3-way-tie for the second-best school between Vivekananda Mission School, Don Bosco, Park Circus, and Delhi Public School, Ruby Park, who scored 28.5 points each. However, Vivekananda Mission School made it to the prize-list on account of their better Buchholz score.