Suvankar Maity clinches 4th Kharagpur Chess Classic 2019-20

by Shahid Ahmed - 08/01/2020

Starting out as the top seed Suvankar Maity scored 8.0/10 to win 4th Kharagpur Classic 2019 and received ₹10000 cash prize along with a trophy. His only loss was against the eventual runner-up Jodunath Biswas of Bangladesh who also finished at the same score. 11-year-old Srihaan Poddar of Philippines also finished at 8.0/10. He was placed third according to tie-break score. Total 137 players from three federations - India, Bangladesh and Philippines took part in this six-day ten-round Swiss league event from 26th December 2019 to 1st January 2020, making the biggest chess tournament in Paschim Medinipur history and also the first international FIDE rated event. Total ₹60000 prize fund was distributed among the prize winners. Photo: Yuva Chess Academy

Four players finish at 8.0/10

Top seed Suvankar Maity scored 8.0/10 and won 4th Kharagpur Classic 2019. He suffered his only loss against the eventual runner-up Jodunath Biswas of Bangladesh in the fifth round who also finished with the same score. 11-year-old Srihaan Poddar of Philippines also scored 8.0/10 and he was placed third according to his tie-break score.

Champion Suvankar Maity scored 8.0/10, received ₹10000 cash and a beautiful trophy | Photo: Suvankar's fb

The podium finishers - Runner-up Jodunath Biswas (center) and Second runner-up Srihaan Poddar (right) with the guests | Photo: Yuva Chess Academy

Suvankar lost one game and he skipped the last round game

When I reached out to Suvankar to ask him about his triumph and the reason behind skipping the final round, this is what he had to say, "Thank you. I had made my decision to skip the last round before the tournament as I had a train (Duranto Express) to catch on 1st January morning to play in the IIFLW Open at Mumbai. I played the Kharagpur Classic for practice, IIFLW is more important."

Here is the best game of the champion annotated by himself against the eventual second runner-up Srihaan Poddar from round six. Suvankar had lost the previous round game. He felt like he was in a must-win situation and it was his best game of the tournament too.

Inaugural moves are being made | Photo: Yuva Chess Academy

The Tournament opened with the National Anthems of three countries in presence of Additional District Magistrate of Paschim Medinipur District Mr. Soura Mondal, District Panchayat and Rural Development Officer Mr. Sudipta Santra and Regional Manager SBI RBO Kharagpur Mr. Jayant Mani.

Cultural programme in progress | Photo: Yuva Chess Academy

The Tournament Hall | Photo: Yuva Chess Academy

Bird's eye view of the tournament hall | Photo: Yuva Chess Academy

Total 137 players including three federation - India, Bangladesh and Philippines participated in this six-day ten-round Swiss League from 27th December 2019 to 1st January 2020 at Kharagpur Yuba Sangha Club organized by Yuva Chess Academy. This was the first ever International FIDE Rated Event of Paschim Medinipur District and it was also the biggest chess event of the district too. Total ten players from Paschim Medinipur District achieved FIDE rating through this event.

Final Standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1		Suvankar Maity		IND	1835		8,0	0,0	67,0	71,5
2	4		Jodunath Biswas		BAN	1570		8,0	0,0	65,5	70,5
3	3	AGM	Srihaan Poddar	U11	PHI	1654		8,0	0,0	62,5	66,5
4	6		Dhiman Mitra		IND	1517		8,0	0,0	60,5	64,5
5	5		Anish Rooj	U15	IND	1531		7,5	0,0	60,5	65,0
6	8		Debanjan Sasmal		IND	1442		7,5	0,0	58,0	62,5
7	24		Ishika Mondal	G15	IND	1234		7,0	0,0	60,5	64,5
8	14		Rittik Chakraborty		IND	1348		7,0	0,0	59,5	63,5
9	12		Somdeb Mazumder		IND	1368		7,0	0,0	59,5	62,5
10	2		Gias Uddin Ahmed		BAN	1831		7,0	0,0	57,5	62,5
11	17		Prapti Moulik	G11	IND	1299		7,0	0,0	56,5	61,0
12	15		Soureen Bhattacharya	U11	IND	1321		7,0	0,0	56,5	60,5
13	22		Aritra Chanda	U13	IND	1250		7,0	0,0	56,5	59,5
14	23		Tirthendu S Choudhury		IND	1250		7,0	0,0	56,0	57,5
15	25		Debapriyo Saha	U11	IND	1219	YCA	7,0	0,0	55,5	59,5
16	7		Ujaan Bhattacharya	U15	IND	1494		7,0	0,0	55,5	56,0
17	20		Siddhartha Gupta		IND	1255		7,0	0,0	55,0	59,0
18	21		Urja Goyal	G13	IND	1253		7,0	0,0	54,0	57,0
19	18		Mitra Subhanil	U13	IND	1281		6,5	0,0	60,0	64,5
20	31		Anshuman Ganguly	U15	IND	1141		6,5	0,0	58,5	63,0