Mitrabha wins 2nd Queen's Gambit Rapid 2018

by Shahid Ahmed - 25/02/2018

Former National Sub-Junior and Commonwealth under 14 Gold medalist, FM Mitrabha Guha remained undefeated and won the 2nd edition of Queen's Gambit Rapid Chess Tournament 2018, organized by chesspert.com in association with SLOBA, held in St. Lawrence High School, Kolkata on 20th and 21st January 2018. Mitrabha finished ahead of two IMs and a WGM. He finished at 3rd position last year in the inaugural edition of the tournament. Top seed of the event IM Sayantan Das finished at 6th position. The tournament was inaugurated by India's elite GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly and the Chief Guest of the Closing Ceremony was West Bengal's first and India's second GM Dibyendu Barua. The report contains photos, videos and interviews taken by Shahid Ahmed who was present at the venue and also one of the organizers.

Mitrabha clinches 2nd Queen's Gambit Rapid Chess Tournament 2018

FM Mitrabha Guha was leading by half a point going into the final round of the tournament. So he decided not to take an unnecessary risk in the last round and made a quick draw with reigning West Bengal State Champion and eventual runner-up of the tournament, Neelash Saha. Mitrabha finished the tournament with 8/9 and clinched the championship.

Mitrabha received his championship trophy and ₹15000 cash from GM Dibyendu Barua, IM Atanu Lahiri and team chesspert

L to R: Guest of Honor, GM Ziaur Rahman, SLOBA Alumi Rahul Mukerji, Chief Guest GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Guest of Honor IM Atanu Lahiri and Fr. Joseph C. De Souza, S.J

GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly makes the inaugural move 1.e4

All prize winners of the tournament

Neelash Saha scored 7.5 points and due to a better tie-break score, he secured 2nd position and received ₹10000 cash

National Sub-Junior Silver medalist, Koustav Chatterjee also scored 7.5 points, but due to a lower tie-break score, he was placed 3rd and received ₹6000 cash

CM Aronyak Ghosh scored 7.5 points, he was placed 4th and bagged home ₹4000 cash

Arpan Das scored 7.5 points, he was placed 5th and bagged home ₹2000 cash

Top seed IM Sayantan Das finished at 6th position with a score of 7/9 and got ₹1000 cash

Second seed of the tournament and for second consecutive year, WGM Mary Ann Gomes scored 6.5/9 and took home ₹1000 cash

Third seed IM Suvrajit Saha, winner of CSIR All India Open Rating, scored 6/9 and he was placed 24th, bagged home ₹750 cash

68-year old, Pradip Bhowmick scored 5.5/9 and was declared as the Best Veteran of the tournament

Quiz contest was conducted for all parents and accompanying persons

The twist was, players were not allowed to participate in this quiz, however they were allowed to tell the answers to their guardians and they are allowed to google to find the answer if they did not know the correct one. Prizes were books, coffee mugs and ChessBase India shop discount voucher.

Snacks and lunch was distributed to all participants on day 1 and day 2 respectively

Renowned news anchor, Suman Dey of ABP Ananda visited the tournament as his son participated

The playing hall was an open auditorium which was well accepted by all players and spectators

A glimpse of all prizes, trophies and medals

Arbiters' team (L to R): IA Debasish Barua, NA Darunath Chatterjee and IA Asit Baran Choudhury | Photo: Darunath Chatterjee's facebook

The 2nd edition of Queen's Gambit Rapid Chess Tournament 2018 took place on 20th and 21st January 2018 at St.Lawrence High School, Kolkata in association with SLOBA (St. Lawrence Old Boys' Association), venue partner was St. Lawrence High School. There were 25 main prizes, 60 age group prizes, best woman and best veteran prize. Total number of participants were 184, slightly less than last year. We did not accept any spot entries as we did not want to compromise a player’s experience. Our motto was always to make sure that this is ‘A tournament for Players.’ We can only hope that we have managed to do that.

Last year's champion IM Arghyadip Das wanted to defend his title but he was unable to do so due to his other commitments.

Here are a few videos and interviews from the tournament:

"Happy birthday to the baby" - Surya Sekhar Ganguly wishes ChessBase India on turning two

Aniruddh Chatterjee draws with Suvradeepta Das

Subhayan Kundu is unable to stop Koustav Chatterjee's passed pawn

Arindam Mukherjee blunders against Arya Bhakta

Koustav Chatterjee converts his advantage against IM Suvrajit Saha

Rupam Mukherjee fails to push passed pawns against Subhayan Kundu

Aronyak Ghosh defeats IM Sayantan Das in a Rook ending

Mitrabha Guha converts his advantage and defeats Mary Ann

Vishal Didwania blitzes a checkmate to Suvrajit Saha

Arpan Das' Double Rook & Bishop proves to be stronger than Kaustuv Kundu's Queen

Rahul loses against Anustoop in a Rook ending

Highlights of 2nd Queen's Gambit Rapid Chess Tournament 2018

"Happy birthday to the baby" - Surya Sekhar Ganguly wishes ChessBase India on turning two

Mitrabha Guha speaks after winning 2nd Queen's Gambit Rapid 2018

"Players from Sweden and Spain are saying that ChessBase India is promoting chess in a new level"

"It is good to see all youngsters finish in top 10" - GM Dibyendu Barua

IM Neeraj Kumar Mishra speaks about setting benchmark as an organizer and his vision

Team chesspert (L to R): Shahid Ahmed, Suraiya Ahmed, Neeraj Kumar Mishra with GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly

Final Ranking after 9 Rounds

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	6	FM	Mitrabha Guha			2051		8,0	0,0	52,0	56,0	48,50	7
2	17		Neelash Saha			1830		7,5	0,0	51,5	53,0	42,00	7
3	9		Koustav Chatterjee			2027		7,5	0,0	50,5	55,0	43,50	7
4	7	CM	Aronyak Ghosh			2031		7,5	0,0	49,5	54,0	44,75	7
5	12		Arpan Das			1965		7,5	0,0	46,5	51,0	42,00	6
6	1	IM	Das Sayantan			2431		7,0	0,0	51,5	55,5	42,00	7
7	23		Didwania Vishal			1714		7,0	0,0	46,5	51,0	37,50	7
8	40		Arya Bhakta	12B		1512		7,0	0,0	45,5	49,5	37,00	7
9	26		Shrutarshi Ray			1688		7,0	0,0	44,5	48,5	36,50	7
10	15		Anustoop Biswas			1907		7,0	0,0	41,0	42,5	31,50	7
11	5		Kaustuv Kundu			2098		6,5	0,0	52,0	56,0	37,75	6
12	2	WGM	Gomes Mary Ann		w	2297		6,5	0,0	51,0	55,0	37,00	5
13	14		Srijit Paul			1910		6,5	0,0	50,5	54,5	39,75	6
14	25		Satya Sekhar Mitra			1689		6,5	0,0	49,0	52,0	36,75	5
15	22	AGM	Arka Sengupta			1733		6,5	0,0	48,0	52,0	34,75	6
16	32		Utsab Chatterjee			1603		6,5	0,0	47,5	50,5	33,75	6
17	51		Soham Saha	12B		1303		6,5	0,0	47,0	51,0	33,75	6
18	13		Bose Sayan			1912		6,5	0,0	47,0	50,5	34,50	5
19	19		Chakrabarti Tamal			1804		6,5	0,0	46,5	50,5	35,25	6
20	16		Subhajit Bhattacharyya			1901		6,5	0,0	46,5	50,5	33,75	6
21	18		Suvradeepta Das			1827		6,5	0,0	45,5	48,0	32,00	6
22	21		Ganguly Ritabroto			1763		6,5	0,0	43,5	46,5	33,50	5
23	35		Soumik Datta			1569		6,5	0,0	43,0	46,5	30,00	6
24	3	IM	Suvrajit Saha			2253		6,0	0,0	52,0	55,5	33,50	6
25	8		Debarshi Mukherjee			2027		6,0	0,0	52,0	55,5	33,25	5

Complete final ranking list

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