Surya Sekhar Ganguly (right) makes a move against Chandrasekhar Gokhale at Gorky Sadan on Sunday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: Double misfortune hit French Grandmaster Oliver Renet on the opening day of the Calcutta Open Chess being organised by Alekhine Chess Club at Gorky Sadan on Sunday.

The 43-year-old veteran, who arrived in the city in the early hours of the morning from Paris, first lost his luggage and then was scalped by Fide Master Mehdi Hasan of Bangladesh. Hasan, with an Elo rating of 2311 — more than 200 points below Renet’s — outwitted the French GM in a mere 24 moves in a Sicilian Najdorf.

Renet, who is the national coach of the French youth team spoke to The Telegraph after the game. “I couldn’t sleep last night. I was also delayed at the airport trying to locate my lost baggage. I played badly in the Sicilian Najdorf and was crushed. But I don’t want to give any excuses... I am lucky I still have my lap-top and can prepare for the next round.”

In another upset, city-based Somak Palit beat GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh while IM Shanker Roy held GM Sergey Kasparov to a draw.

National champion Surya Sekhar Ganguly obtained a slightly better position against IM Chandrasekhar Gokhale, with black, in a Reti opening, but made things difficult for himself by an exchange sacrifice. With both players in time pressure, Surya manged to wriggle out of his tight spot by check-mating his opponent.

City-based GM Diyendu Barua played a technical end-game to outwit the only WGM of Bengal Nisha Mohota with the black pieces.

The game between IM D.P Singh and Vikram Aditya Kambli was followed by rapt attention by the media as well as the fans. Kambli, rated nearly 200 points below D.P. Singh, won comfortably with white pieces.

TOP BOARD RESULTS

P D S Girinath (0) lost to Sergei Tiviakov(1); Darmen Sadvakasov (1) bt Dinesh Kr Sharma (0); Subbaraman Meenakshi (0) lost to Levan Pantsulaia (1); Tigran Petrosian (1) bt Prathamesh Mokal (0); Chandrasekhar Gokhale (0) lost to Surya Sekhar Ganguly (1); Alon Greenfeld (1) bt Praveen Kumar (0); Shanker Roy (0.5) drew with Sergey Kasparov (0.5); Ziaur Rahman (0) lost to Somak Palit (1); Swapnil Dhopade (0)lost to Dimitri Komarov (1); Abhijit Kunte (1) bt Vinoth Kumar (0); Vikramaditya Kambli (1) bt D.P. Singh (0); Saidali Iuldachev (0.5) drew with Rahul Sangma (0.5).