Somak Palit wins Tata Steel Chess Festival 2019 Open Blitz
23/11/2019 - IM Somak Palit scored 6.5/7 to win Tata Steel Chess Festival All Bengal Open Blitz 2019. He received a huge beautiful trophy and ₹10000 cash as a prize for his efforts. In the penultimate round, Somak had a narrow escape against Debankan Dhara which the eventual champion survived using stalemate trick. IM Mitrabha Guha also finished at 6.5/7 but due to a lower tie-break score, he had to settle for second place. IM Sayantan Das scored 6.0/7 and he was placed third according to his tie-break score. Total 118 players including 7 IMs participated from all across the state of West Bengal, in this seven-round Blitz tournament with a time control of 3 mins + 2 seconds each. Tata Steel Chess India 2019 Tournament Director Jeroen van den Berg inaugurated the event. Photo: Shahid Ahmed