GM Diptayan Ghosh wins Tata Steel All India Open Rapid Rating Chess Tournament 2017 which was full of 4 GMs and 8 IMs. The tournament witnessed various strong battles between two different generations in the official rapid event time control. The tournament was so close that until the last round, there was a five-way tie at 7 points each, it was difficult to predict who the champion would be until all games were finished. Diptayan defeated IM Suvrajit Saha in the last round and the top two boards drew their games, that made sure Diptayan solely finish at 8 points and be declared as the champion. We have photos and videos from the event by Shahid Ahmed.
Diptayan triumphs at his favorite home ground
Champion Diptayan Ghosh receives ₹50000 cash, trophy and a certificate from GM Dibyendu Barua, Chief Arbiter IA Udayan Kantighosh, Chairman of AllSport Foundation, Mr Srenik Sett, CGM of SBI Mr Partha Pratim Sengupta and
Regional Danager of ICCR, Mr
Gautam De
Indian Allrounder, eminent cricketer Ms. Jhulan Goswami inaugurated the event by making the first move
Jhulan exclaims that she was awaiting her turn to inaugurate a chess tournament
Diptayan started well with five straight wins, then he was halted by IM Himal Gusain of Chandigarh and IM Satyapragyan Swayangsu of Air India, as he had to settle for draws. Diptayan made a strong finish by winning his last two rounds against IM Somak Palit and IM Suvrajit Saha, both of them from Railways.
Diptayan speaks with ChessBase India after he became champion
Himal Gusain receives his first runner up prize
₹35000 cash and certificate
Himal also had a good start by winning his first five games. Then he faced the eventual champion of the tournament, Diptayan. The game ended in a draw. He also drew his seventh round game against IM Somak Palit. Himal has completed his masters recently, he wishes for more talents to rise from Chandigarh as there is a dearth of talent after Tarini Goyal. Maybe the lack of regular tournaments in Chandigarh is one of the reason.
Himal talks about the merging of National Challengers and Premier, how strong the tournament was and his upcoming plans
Satyapragyan Swayangsu secures second runner up position, received
₹20000 cash and a certificate
Satyapragyan talks about Kolkata players being underrated, his thoughts about Nihal and Praggnanandhaa, his opinion about National Challenger and Premier getting merged into one
Veteran of the game IM Varugeese Koshy delivered a stellar performance when he finished at fourth position scoring 7.5 points ahead many young and strong players. He remained undefeated throughout the tournament faced and top five finishers of the tournament except the champion.
Varugeese Koshy was placed fourth, received ₹15000 cash and a certificate
Koshy talks about the strength of the tournament, his long career, his opinion about Nihal and Praggnanandhaa, his dream match, his future plans
Saptarshi RoyChowdhury finished at 5th position with 7.5 points,
received ₹10000 cash and a certificate
Arindam Mukherjee is the only untitled player to finish in top six at sixth position
Arindam Mukherjee shares his experience from the tournament, what was his expectations, the young kids whom he faced and his future chess plans
Former Commonwealth under 13 gold medal winner, Koustav Chatterjee finished strong at seventh place with 7 points
IM Somak Palit had a +2 finish with 7 points, he secured 8th position
Former National Rapid Champion, GM Neelotpal Das did not have a good tournament as he finished at 9th position with 7 points
In this interview, Neelotpal shares his thoughts about the tournament, his opinion of National Challengers and Premier being merged into one, his upcoming tournament plans
Arpan Das had a fantastic tournament as he finished +11, securing 10th position by scoring 7 points
Top seed IM Swayams Mishra did not have a good tournament as he finished -10, securing 11th position with 7 points
Swayams discusses where it went wrong, his opinion about Nihal and Pragnnanandhaa, his thoughts about the merging of National Challengers and Premier
IM P Konguvel scored 7 points and he was placed 12th due to tie-break score
Lightning fast GM Abhijit Kunte did not have a good tournament as he had a -13 finish, he was placed 16th with 6.5 points
IM Suvrajit Saha who recently won CSIR-CMERI All India Open, had a -8 finish and was placed 19th with 6.5 points
Dibyendu Barua's very good friend, veteran IM D V Prasad did not have a good tournament either as he had a -22 finish, securing 31st position with 6 points
Free vegetarian lunch was given to all participants on 17th December 2017
Here are a few final moments of various games:
Aditya Basu loses against top seed IM Swayams Mishra in an interesting Rook ending
Samriddhaa Ghosh fights valiantly against GM Neelotpal Das in a Queen ending
Rajarshi Dutta tries to extract something against Rupankar Nath in a drawn Knight ending
Srijit Paul loses on time in an anti-climactic way against top seed IM Swayams Mishra
Ritabroto Ganguly blunders against IM Himal Gusain in a Rook-Bishop ending
Rupankar Nath wins the pawn race against Mrityunjay Kumar in Rook endgame
Suman Basu sweats it out against Rowdrick Saha Talukdar in the first round
Arindam Mukherjee converts his advantage against Johney Mandal
IM Suvrajit Saha converts his advantage in Queen ending against Swarnava Biswas
Highlights of Day 1 of Tata Steel All India Open Rapid Rating Chess Tournament
Himal Gusain outplays Swayams Mishra in a minor piece ending
Anurag Jaiswal defends a Rook ending unsuccessfully against Satyapragyan Swayangsu
Satyapragyan Swayangsu draws with Diptayan Ghosh in a Rook-Knight vs Rook-Bishop ending
Varugeese Koshy converts his material advantage successfully against D V Prasad
Battle of the Saptarshi's: Saptorshi Gupta couldn't overcome Saptarshi RoyChowdhury
Koshy and Satyapragyan drew in a Rook ending from an interesting position
Santu Mondal displays proper technique to win in Queen vs Rook endgame
Highlights of Day 2 of Tata Steel All India Open Rapid Rating Chess Tournament
The tournament witnessed 265 players from all over India including 4 GMs and 8 IMs. It took place in Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Kolkata on 16th and 17th December 2017. There were 30 age group prizes, 3 prizes each for both boys and girls in category under 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16. There were 12 rating category prizes in 6 different categories and they are Below 2000, 1800, 1600, 1400, 1200 and 1000. Best Women category had two prizes.
DBCA will be back in May 2018 with an International GM tournament.
