Neelash Saha clinches 35th All India Railway Individual Championship 2023 on his debut

by Shahid Ahmed - 12/07/2023

IM Neelash Saha of South Eastern Railway scored an unbeaten 6/7 to win 35th All India Railway Individual Chess Championship 2023. He finished a half point ahead of the field. IM Aronyak Ghosh (Eastern Railway), IM C R G Krishna (South Western Railway) and GM Saptarshi Roy (Eastern Railway) scored 5.5/7 each. They were placed second, third and fourth respectively. This was a debut event for both Neelash and Aronyak. Although, Aronyak had represented RSPB A at the 42nd National Team 2023 earlier this year and secured a second runner-up position. This is Neelash's fourth and only non-rated tournament triumph of the year. He earned his maiden GM-norm at Vezerkepzo Winter Carnival GM 2023 which was his first tournament victory of 2023.

Top three remain undefeated

IM Neelash Saha (SER) made a blazing start of 4/4 including victories over GM Karthikeyan P (ICF) and GM Swapnil Dhopade (CR). Then he drew against the eventual runner-up, IM Aronyak Ghosh (ER). In the penultimate round, Neelash defeated India's 81st GM Sayantan Das (Metro). He concluded the tournament with a draw against the eventual second runner-up, IM C R G Krishna (SWR).

Champion - IM Neelash Saha (SER) 6/7

Runner-up - IM Aronyak Ghosh (ER) 5.5/7 | Photo: FI Arindam Mukherjee

Second Runner-up - IM C R G Krishna 5.5/7 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

IM Neelash Saha scored an unbeaten 6/7

A total of 75 players inlcuding 9 GMs and 16 IMs represented various railway divisions of Indian Railways across the country in this four-day seven-round Swiss League non-rating individual tournament. The event was organized by WCR Sports Association at Railway Stadium Basketball Court in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh from 5th to 8th Jul 2023. The time control of the event was 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment from move no.1.

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	8	IM	Neelash, Saha	IND	2429	SER	6	28,5	32	26,50	0	5
2	1	IM	Aronyak, Ghosh	IND	2538	ER	5,5	27,5	31	23,50	0	4
3	11	IM	Krishna, C R G	IND	2409	SWR	5,5	27,5	31	23,25	0	4
4	18	GM	Saptarshi, Roy	IND	2322	ER	5,5	23,5	26,5	20,75	0	5
5	4	GM	Das, Sayantan	IND	2484	Metro	5	30	33	21,50	0	4
6	5	GM	Swapnil, S. Dhopade	IND	2479	CR	5	27,5	31	20,50	0	4
7	22	FM	Singh, Gurpreet Pal	IND	2273	NR	4,5	27	29,5	17,25	0	3
8	2	GM	Visakh, N R	IND	2536	ICF	4,5	26,5	30	18,00	0	3
9	13	IM	Nitin, S.	IND	2389	SR	4,5	26,5	30	17,75	0	3
	14	IM	Mehar, Chinna Reddy C.H.	IND	2384	SCR	4,5	26,5	30	17,75	0	3