Debashis Das wins SMCA Online Blitz

Debashis Das wins SMCA Online Blitz convincingly

The tournament was held on the 3rd of December 2017.

Here is the top 25 seeds of the tournament that was held on 3rd of December 2017. The strongest line-up for a ChessBase Online tournament:

Despite having a slow start by drawing his third round game against National under 13 and under 17 champion Raja Rithvik R, losing against former Commonwealth under 13 champion Koustav Chatterjee in the fourth round, he won his next six games which made all the difference and finished with 8.5/10. His victims from fifth to tenth round were, Mounika Akshaya Bommini, P Karthikeyan, G N Gopal, Baskaran Adhiban, S L Narayanan and 2-time ChessBase Online Blitz champion, R Lalith Babu.

The last round was nerve-wracking as Debashis Das faced Lalith Babu, while S.L. Narayanan was up against Swayams Mishra. In the end both Odisha boys triumphed. IM Sagar Shah did the live commentary when the game was in progress:

Here is the only loss Debashis suffered in the entire tournament against Koustav:

His best game was against S L Narayanan (Indianwonder) in the 9th round:

Lately, if there is anyone who is consistently finishing for the podium it has to be IM Swayams Mishra (Mr bh6). His best game was against GM Murali Karthikeyan (Fighter64)

GM S. L. Narayanan (Indianwonder) started fantastic with 7.5/8, but losing last two rounds cost him the championship, still he managed to finish at third position. He had a marathon game of 92 moves against GM M R Lalith Babu in the 7th round:

Speaking to ChessBase India after the tournament S.L. Narayanan said, "It was a great experience to play in such a strong field through an online platform. This was my first online tournament and I am very much elated by the way it was conducted. Kudos to the team! And in my opinion, such tournaments should be conducted more often."

GM M R Lalith Babu, did not have a good tournament as per his previous records. He scored 7.5/10 and was placed 4th. In the 9th round, he defeated Commonwealth under 16, Asian Youth Open and Rapid, gold medal winner FM Arjun Erigaisi in King's Indian Defence.

While for many players fourth place finish is a good result, for Lalith it is not because he has won the ChessBase Online prize money tournaments twice and is truly on of the best blitz players in India.

IM Hemant Sharma of Delhi played a fantastic tournament scoring 7.5/10 and secured 5th position. Hemant also known as Arubaba is a regular player on Playchess. In this tournament he showed that having a feel of what it is to compete on Playchess can help you perform better. He had quite a long game of 88 moves against GM S L Narayanan in the 4th round which ended up in a draw:

GM Baskaran Adhiban was shocked in the first round when he had to settle for a draw against Pavan B N B (Loss2win). He suffered two losses in the tournament. One against GM S L Naranayan and the other against GM Debashis Das. 

Adhiban fought back and finished sixth. After the tournament we contacted him and he said, "It was great and lot of fun, it would have been nice to win it of course. But I played too weak too slow against Debs and this other guy I lost :)"

FM Mehar Chinna Reddy also scored 7.5/10 and secured 7th position due to a lower tie-break score. He defeated P Saravana Krishnan (mbachez90) in the 9th round in just 30 moves:

FM Arjun Erigaisi who is one of the youngest players to finish in top 10, played some fine games, scored 7/10 and he secured 7th position. He defeated two-time National Premier Champion GM Murali Karthikeyan in the last round:

Recently at a live commentary session in Mumbai when the secretary of All India Chess Federation Bharat Singh Chauhan was asked about who he thinks is a great talent in Indian chess apart from Praggnanandhaa and Nihal, he pointed out to Arjun and said that the young boy will become Telangana's first grandmaster!

The other youngest player to finish in top 10 was Koustav Chatterjee who is a former Commonwealth under 13 gold medal winner. He drew with GM Aravindh Chithambaram (Refresh) in the 2nd round, defeated GM Abhimanyu Puranik (Pabh) in the 3rd round, defeated GM Debashis Das (Debashisdas) in the 4th round, defeated IM Sidhant Mohapatra (Sidhant) in the 5th round and defeated GM R R Laxman (LAXMAN). He had a quite an impressive tournament. His best game would be defeating reigning National Blitz Champion and Blitz king of India, GM R R Laxman.

Former ChessBase Online Blitz and Bronze medal winner in Asian Indoor Games 2017 GM Vaibhav Suri finished at 10th position with a score of 7/10. He checkmated Swayams Mishra (Mr bh6) in the 5th round in just 34 moves

GM G N Gopal deserves a special mention as he could not play the first round due to some technical error. In spite of that, he scored 7.0/9 and managed to finish 11th.

Final standings with prize money:

Age group prize winners and Best female:

Lucky prize winners:

Reviews from the participants:

GM Vaibhav Suri, winner of 2nd ChessBase Online Blitz tournament

The tournament was conducted quite smoothly and a quite "fun Sunday" event. The participation of Adhiban & Sethuraman definitely added the spark to the event. I guess an Online Blitz Festival would be the next way to go (with different formats - Chess960, Bughouse, Bullet etc). Overall really happy with such events. Way to go!!

GM R R Laxman, reigning National Blitz Champion

I thank the  Chessbase India team once more for their strenous and tireless endeavour to popularise blitz events in India. Considering the fact that the present day time control  even in classical format ( unlike the yesteryears)  demands quick reflexes and blitz skills  , I feel that the entire Chessbase India team is doing an exemplary and praiseworthy job. A boon for Indian chess !!!. Though my performance this time was not satisfactory ,I hope to excel and cherish more pleasant memories from my side in the forthcoming editions of Chessbase India blitz events.

IM Ravi Teja S, former National Challengers Champion

We (Ravi Teja&Anusha NLV) thoroughly enjoyed the tournament.it was exciting!

Tushar Bohra, father of Kanishk Bohra

Thanks for enrolling Kanishk for the event. He had a great time playing the games. And a great overall experience.

Rajnikanth, father of D Gukesh

I am extremely happy to have participated in my first online blitz tmt conducted by ChessBase India and loved the experience and thrill. from the start to the finish its professionally conducted and got the rare opportunity to play several high-class players in a single event and looking forward for its next event

Priti Mahendru, mother of Jaiveer Mahendru

This was our second chessbase online blitz event. My son is 8 years and it was an absolute thrill for him to be playing against titled players ! Thanks a lot for organizing this. We look forward to more such events !

Kushagra Mohan

I was happy the way the tournament was conducted. No problems at all. You just keep increasing the prize money and that is a big improvement.Cannot hope for more.