SAIF Sporting Club ends Bangladesh Police's dominant run at Bangladesh Premier League 2022
SAIF Sporting Club ended Bangladesh Police's dominant run at Bangabandhu Premier Division Chess League 2022. Bangladesh Police has been winning the Bangladesh Premier League for the past three editions and remained unbeaten while doing so since 2019. SSC started their event by beating the defending champion Bangladesh Police convincingly 3.5-0.5 in the second round. SAIF SC scored an unbeaten 18/20 to become clear champion. Bangladesh Police and debutant in the Premier Division, Palli Sanchoy Bank scored 16/20 and 15/20 to secure second and third place respectively. Top three teams received Tk 125,000, 75000 and 50000 along with a trophy each respectively. Bangladesh Navy won the Sheikh Kamal First Division Chess League 2022. Photo: Bangladesh Chess Federation
S L Narayanan is the top Indian performer
GM S L Narayanan anchored his team SAIF Sporting Club to victory with a staggering 8.5/10. GM Harsha Bharathakoti (Bangladesh Police) and GM Mitrabha Guha (Bangladesh Biman) scored 8/10 each, followed by GM Diptayan Ghosh (Bangladesh Biman), GM Leon Luke Mendonca (Manha's Castle) and IM Nubairshah Shaikh (Titas Club) at 7.5/10 each. While Narayanan maintained his rating, Harsha, Diptayan and Mitrabha gained 5.6, 8.8 and 8.7 Elo rating points.
Champion - SAIF Sporting Club 18/20
SAIF Sporting Club started the tournament with a thumping victory 3.5-0.5 over the defending champions Bangladesh Police in the second round. GM S L Narayanan (2673) and GM Pouya Idani (IRI, 2631) were the top performers for the team 8.5/10, followed by Bangladesh's very own GM Enamul Hossain (2392) scoring a valuable 7.5/10.
Nubairshah - Narayanan, Round 9
IM Nubairshah Shaikh (2439) of Titas Club, needed to play 17.f3 himself to prevent Black from doing so. 17.Ra3 f3 18.gxf3 Bh3 and White can still fight, however it would take a computer-like precision to save the game which is no easy task for a human. Narayanan won the game in another eight moves. Titas Club lost to SAIF Sporting Club by 1-3 in the ninth round.
Runner-up: Bangladesh Police 16/20
The Asian Continental Championship 2022 runner-up, GM Harsha Bharathakoti (2582) powered the team Bangladesh Police with a stellar performance 8/10. He also won the individual board prize on reserve board. In the seventh round, he scored a fine victory against the Commonwealth 2022 Silver medalist, GM Mitrabha Guha (2474).
Board prize
Board no.1 - GM Enamul Hossain (SAIF Sporting Club) 2451, 7.5/9
Board no.2 - GM Leon Luke Mendonca (Manha's Castle) 2442, 7.5/10
Board no.3 - GM Diptayan Ghosh (Bangladesh Biman) 2553, 7.5/10
Board no.4 - GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov (Palli Sanchoy Bank) 2622, 8/10
Reserve Board 1 - GM Harsha Bharathakoti (Bangladesh Police) 2557, 8/10
Reserve Board 2 - Asif Mahmud (Leonine Chess Club) 2212, 2.5/6
First division
Both Bangladesh Navy and Janata Bank Officer Welfare Society scored 16/18 each. The former won the Sheikh Kamal 1st Division Chess League 2022 due to better tie-breaks (Game Points), the latter had to settle for the second place. Janata Bank Officer Welfare Society defeated the eventual champion Bangladesh Navy in the final round. JBOWS suffered their sole loss of the event against Sangbadik Shahnoor Khan Smirity Sangsad in the third round. Khelagar Daba Sangah, Gopalganj secured sole third position scoring 12/18. The total prize fund was - Tk 100000. Top three prizes were - Tk 50000, 30000 and 20000 along with a trophy each. Individual Board prizes had a medal and Tk 5000 each.
Kumar Gaurav (2041) is the top scorer of Janata Bank Officer Welfare Society - 7.5/9. He gained 34.4 Elo rating points. Suvradeepta Das (2062) is the second-highest scorer for the same 7/9. He increased his rating by 21.2 points.
Abhay Bandewar is the top scorer for second runner-up Khelaghar Daba Sangha, Gopalganj. He made an unbeaten 8/9 and gained 55 Elo rating points. Saurabh Choubey is the second-highest scorer 5.5/9. He added 24.8 Elo rating points. Samriddhaa Ghosh is the sole Indian female player to take part in this tournament. She scored 4.5/9 and gained 13.2 Elo rating points.
Replay Premier Division Round 1-11 games
A total of 14 GMs and 7 IMs in the Premier Division and one IM in the First Division took part from five countries across the world. The Premier Division was a eleven team Round-Robin event, while the First Division was a ten team Round-Robin tournament. The time control for both tournaments were 90min/40moves+30min/end+30sec increment per move starting from move 1. The tournament took place at Dhaka, Bangladesh from 30th November to 10th December 2022, First Division got over on 8th December due to having two less rounds.
Round 11 results
| No. | Team | Team | Res. | : | Res. |
| 1 | Manha's Castle | Palli Sanchoy Bank | 1½ | : | 2½ |
| 2 | Sultana Kamal Smirity Pathagar | Uttara Central Chess Club | 1½ | : | 2½ |
| 3 | Titas Club | Rupali Bank Krira Parisad | 4 | : | 0 |
| 4 | Sheikh Russel Chess Club | Bangladesh Police | 1½ | : | 2½ |
| 5 | Leonine Chess Club | SAIF Sporting Club | 1 | : | 3 |
| 6 | Bangladesh Biman | bye | : |
Final standings after Round 11
| Rk. | SNo | FED | Team | Team | Group | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
| 1 | 1 | SAIF Sporting Club | SAIF Sporting Club | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 30,5 | 0 | 162,3 | 77,5 | |||
| 2 | 3 | Bangladesh Police | Bangladesh Police | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 27,5 | 0 | 138,5 | 71 | |||
| 3 | 2 | Palli Sanchoy Bank | Palli Sanchoy Bank | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 28 | 0 | 128,8 | 65,5 | |||
| 4 | 4 | Manha's Castle | Manha's Castle | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 26,5 | 0 | 111 | 71 | |||
| 5 | 5 | Bangladesh Biman | Bangladesh Biman | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 25,5 | 0 | 108,5 | 63,5 | |||
| 6 | 7 | Leonine Chess Club | Leonine Chess Club | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 18,5 | 0 | 63,5 | 45 | |||
| 7 | 6 | Titas Club | Titas Club | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 20,5 | 0 | 70,8 | 45 | |||
| 8 | 8 | Uttara Central Chess Club | Uttara Central Chess Club | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 14 | 0 | 35 | 32,5 | |||
| 9 | 9 | Sheikh Russel Chess Club | Sheikh Russel Chess Club | 10 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 14,5 | 0 | 21,5 | 39,5 | |||
| 10 | 10 | Rupali Bank Krira Parisad | Rupali Bank Krira Parisad | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 18,3 | 18 | |||
| 11 | 11 | Sultana Kamal Smirity Pathagar | Sultana Kamal Smirity Pat | 10 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 7,5 | 0 | 3,5 | 21,5 |
Replay 1st Division Round 1-9 games
Final standings of 1st Division
| Rk. | SNo | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
| 1 | 10 | Bangladesh Navy | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 27,5 | 0 | 126,5 | 67,5 | |
| 2 | 5 | Janata Bank Officer Welfare Society | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 26 | 0 | 134,5 | 63,5 | |
| 3 | 4 | Khelagar Daba Sangah, Gopalganj | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 23,5 | 0 | 85,8 | 56 | |
| 4 | 1 | Hamid Sports Academy | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 19,5 | 0 | 66 | 50 | |
| 5 | 8 | Sangbadik Shahnoor Khan Smirity Sangsad | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 19,5 | 0 | 64,5 | 53 | |
| 6 | 2 | Esoft Arena Chess Club | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 17 | 0 | 56,8 | 44 | |
| 7 | 3 | Dhaka Chess Club | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 17,5 | 0 | 52,3 | 40 | |
| 8 | 6 | Sadharan Bima Corporation Sporting Club | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 17 | 0 | 52,5 | 47,5 | |
| 9 | 9 | Basir Memorial Chess Club | 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 8,5 | 0 | 4 | 18,5 | |
| 10 | 7 | Shofi Uddin Shah Sriti Sangsad | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
Links
Tournament Regulations - Premier and First Division
