Rahul Gurung wins 18th North East Championship 2018

by Nongsha Angom - 14/03/2018

Did you know Indian chess has a north-east championship that has been held since the past 18 years! This was the 18th edition and it happened for the first time in the history that a player from Sikkim won the North Eastern Championship. Until now it was Assam and Manipur who had dominated the event. What was even more surprising is that amidst many champions of the north east, the winner was 16-year-old Rahul Gurung! The young boy aims to become an International Master as soon as possible. Our reporter from north-east Angom Nongsha sends us a detailed summary of what happened at the 18th North East Championship.

The 18th Edition of North Eastern State Chess Championship witnessed 212 participants from 7 different states of North East India (this year the Nagaland Association were not able to send a representative). Meghalaya was the hosting state this time(usually the tournament is conducted in rotation basis), Meghalaya is famous for its many tourist attracting places like the Cherrapunji(world record of most rain in a calendar year) ,Double-Decker Living Root Bridge, Elephant falls, Umiam lake, Shillong Golf course, Nohkalikai falls, Dawki river etc.

The Beautiful Double-Decker Living Root Bridge | Image Courtesy: Tripadvisor.com

The incredible Dawki River | Courtery: Hellotravel.com

The tournament was hosted in Shillong, one of the best hill stations of India. The tournament was completely sponsored by AICF and the prize fund was 1.5 Lacs, of which 30,000 was the first prize. Among all the regional events in North-Eastern India, this championship is considered as the toughest and the most prestigious one.

Starting rank of the 18th North east championship

No.	Name	FideID	FED	Rtg	Club/City
1	Singh Y. Dhanabir	5009723	IND	2126	Manipur
2	Singh Bhogen R K	5038324	IND	2075	Manipur
3	Santanu Borpatra Gohain	5023688	IND	1989	Assam
4	Trailokya Nanda	5020190	IND	1969	Assam
5	Singh Soram Rahul	25001574	IND	1957	Assam
6	Nitish Das	25089315	IND	1939	Assam
7	Gurung Rahul	35015117	IND	1922	Sikkim
8	Gurung Rohit	35033972	IND	1917	Sikkim
9	Tamang Thendup	35034375	IND	1914	Sikkim
10	Rorelkima C	25650319	IND	1890	Mizoram
11	Dhrupad Kashyap	46606092	IND	1887	Assam
12	Rishideep Bordoloi	5004730	IND	1886	Assam
13	Nandan Buragohain	5023580	IND	1871	Assam
14	Pahlira	5004047	IND	1860	Mizoram
15	Dupit Tabu	35033913	IND	1846	Arunachal Pradesh
16	Lalnunsanga	5099960	IND	1837	Mizoram
17	Heikrujam Jacky Singh	25028286	IND	1833	Manipur
18	Madhab Sarma	5023548	IND	1820	Assam
19	Rajdip Das	25038184	IND	1801	Assam
20	Rijied Katrai	5096278	IND	1797	Meghalaya

Winner of Last Edition Mr.RK. Apollosana Singh (NE Champion 2017) | Image Courtesy: Apollosana

Last year Champion Mr. RK. Apollosana Singh couldn’t participate due to some personal issues but you cannot complain when you have multiple times North East Champion Mr. Shantanu Borpatra Gohain and Mr. Dhanabir Singh fighting for the title. For years this prestigious event has been dominated by Assam and Manipur but it came as a surprise that this time Sikkim took the title! Yes, and this is for the first time in the history of North Eastern Chess Championship that a 16-year-old boy won the championship making him the youngest. Rahul Gurung of Sikkim scored 9 points out of 10 and gained 85 elo rating points to become the 18th North Eastern Champion!

North East Champion Rahul Gurung | Image Courtesy: North East Crusaders

Team Sikkim taking everyone by Suprise!! | Image Courtesy: North East Crusaders

This is for the first time anyone from Sikkim has done it after the state started taking part in the event from 2011. Apart from Rahul at the top we also had Mr. Thendup Tamang from Sikkim who became 2nd runners-up with 8.5 points. Sikkim performed really well and it is fitting that it will be hosting the 19th edition of the event. Former Assam Champion Mr. Trailokya Nanda emerged as the 1st runner-up with 8.5 points, after a defeat from state-mate in the 4th round Trailokya made a come back with consecutive wins and remained unbeaten to take the 2nd place.

From Left: Trailokya Nanda(1st Runner's Up), Rahul Gurung(Champion) and Thendup Tamang(2nd Runner's Up) | Image Courtesy: Arun Singh

Final Ranking after 10 Rounds

Rk.	SNo	Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	7	Gurung Rahul	IND	1922	Sikkim	9,0	0,0	61,0	65,5
2	4	Trailokya Nanda	IND	1969	Assam	8,5	0,0	62,0	67,5
3	9	Tamang Thendup	IND	1914	Sikkim	8,5	0,0	57,5	60,5
4	60	Silseng N Marak	IND	1424	Meghalaya	8,0	0,0	56,5	60,5
5	17	Heikrujam Jacky Singh	IND	1833	Manipur	7,5	0,0	66,5	70,5
6	1	Singh Y. Dhanabir	IND	2126	Manipur	7,5	0,0	66,0	69,0
7	12	Rishideep Bordoloi	IND	1886	Assam	7,5	0,0	64,5	67,5
8	6	Nitish Das	IND	1939	Assam	7,5	0,0	57,5	61,5
9	29	Iftikar Alom Mazumdar	IND	1680	Assam	7,5	0,0	56,0	60,0
10	19	Rajdip Das	IND	1801	Assam	7,0	0,0	63,0	67,0
11	21	Neelabh Jyoti Borthakur	IND	1794	Assam	7,0	0,0	62,0	66,0
12	28	Silkam Sangma	IND	1688	Meghalaya	7,0	0,0	61,5	64,5
13	5	Singh Soram Rahul	IND	1957	Assam	7,0	0,0	61,0	66,5
14	8	Gurung Rohit	IND	1917	Sikkim	7,0	0,0	61,0	66,0
15	3	Santanu Borpatra Gohain	IND	1989	Assam	7,0	0,0	61,0	65,5
16	15	Dupit Tabu	IND	1846	Arunachal Pradesh	7,0	0,0	60,5	65,0
17	20	Rijied Katrai	IND	1797	Meghalaya	7,0	0,0	59,0	61,5
18	13	Nandan Buragohain	IND	1871	Assam	7,0	0,0	58,5	62,0
19	46	Nirmalya Chakraborty	IND	1536	Assam	7,0	0,0	56,5	60,5
20	2	Singh Bhogen R K	IND	2075	Manipur	7,0	0,0	56,0	60,5

Complete list

The only blind player in the event was Mr. Ram Prasad Chakravarty who scored 5 points.

Mr. Ram Prasad Chakravarty | Image Courtes: North East Crusaders

Team Meghalaya | Image Courtesy: North East Crusaders

The newly crowned North-East Champion Rahul Gurung, who is a class X student of Tadong Senior Secondary School, expressed immense happiness on his achievement and said that this victory will motivate him to do better in his further national and international competitions. His aim is to become an International Master at the earliest.

Team Arbiters | Image Courtesy: North East Crusaders

Chief Arbiter of the event was Mr. Debasish Barua who was assisted by Mr. Arun Singh M as a Deputy Arbiter and Mr. Biju Singh Th, Mr.Taba Anam, Mr. Lalchuanpuia P and Mr. Amar Bhandari as Arbiters.

About the Author:

Nongsha Angom is an aspiring chess player who fell in love with the royal game only two years ago in 2015. When he is not playing chess, he loves playing the guitar and the flute. He also has a 2nd DAN black belt in Manchurian Kung Fu and a black belt in Taekwondo. His aim is to establish himself as a chess player and play chess for the rest of his life while simultaneously promoting chess in North East India. Currently, he is pursuing his Master Degree in English Literature at IGNOU.