GM R R Laxman wins Xtra Time Rapid

by Shahid Ahmed - 27/05/2017

Xtra Time Rapid has set a record for the highest prize fund for a Rapid in India. With a whopping total of Rs. 6,00,00 cash prizes, the tournament has attracted many players from across India. Tournament director Shahid Ahmed sends us an illustrated report which also includes interesting videos. Do not miss!

GM R R Laxman wins Xtra Time Rapid

GM R R Laxman of Integral Coach Factory won Xtra Time All India Open Rapid FIDE Rating Chess Tournament held in Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in Kolkata on17th and 18th May 2017. He has scored 9.5/10 points and won the championship with a round to spare. His only draw was against GM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury in the penultimate round.

GM R R Laxman receives his trophy and ₹50000 cash prize from former Bengal Cricket. Mr. Sambaran Banerjee.

There was a clear leader since 6th round. Laxman secured half point lead over the fray. After round 7, he had increased his lead and finished the tournament a full point ahead of 1st runner up FM Mitrabha Guha who scored 8.5 points.

In the interview, Laxman mentioned that “As you play a more number of games your concentration level as well as competitive skills improves a lot and you will be very fluent in the game. The more number of games you play the more you learn. This tournament I feel serves the purpose for that. I am coming to this tournament because it will give me intensive practice because I am proceeding to Odisha to take part in a Grand Master tournament.”

FM Mitrabha Guha finished 2nd by scoring 8.5 points and bagged home ₹35000

Srijit Paul performed fantastic by scoring 8 points and secured 3rd position and bagged ₹25000

GM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury collects his 4th prize of ₹20000

IM Somak had a +1 finish and secured 5th position to bag home ₹15000

11-year-old Arya Bhakta was the breakout performer of the tournament. He increased his ELO Rating by 132 points and secured 6th position to pocket ₹10000

CM Aronyak Ghosh had a fantastic tournament and secured 7th position and got ₹9000

Reigning National Rapid Champion, GM Neelotpal Das did not have a good tournament and finished 9th to get ₹7000

GM-elect Arghyadip Das secured 15th position and bagged home ₹5000

IM Suvrajit Saha secured 18th position and got ₹5000

The surprise of the event, the returning GM Dibyendu Barua secured 19th position to bag home ₹5000

The tournament was inaugurated by Former Indian Cricketer Deep Dasgupta who played 1.d3 to inaugurate the tournament in presence of reigning National Rapid Champion GM Neelotpal Das, Top seed GM R R Laxman, GM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury and the surprise of the tournament GM Dibyendu Barua who announced his return to competitive chess after 3 years

Deep Dasgupta delivers his inaugural speech

Parents and accompanying persons are allowed inside the venue

Agnivo Ghosh made the biggest upset of the tournament by defeating the returning GM Dibyendu Barua in the 1st Round. He also increased his rating by 162.8 points.

Battle of the generations: WIM Saheli Dhar Barua also made her return to competitive chess after 3 years although she lost this game against Samriddhaa Ghosh

The battle of CMs. CM Aronyak Ghosh faces 8-year-old CM Kush Bhagat

Many faces of Laxman in the Opening Round

The Playing Arena inside Khudiram Anushilan Kendra

There was ample space for Players to move around

The other side of the Playing Arena

“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog”, 11-year-old Arya Bhakta truly exemplified Mark Twain’s quote

Oldest player of the tournament Nihar Ranjan Banerjee battles it out against IM Argyadip Das at the age of 71 years

GM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury on his way to crush reigning State Champion Neelash Saha

Battle of the Oranges

Some highlights of the action from the tournament:

Sanket Chakravarty could not escape against GM R R Laxman

GM Neelotpal Das snatches a win against Soham Dey in the 1st round

Niladri Shekhar Bhattacharya snatches a win against Aditya Bikram Paul in an amazing Rook & 2 Pawns endgame

GM Dibyendu Barua got surprised by one of his DBCA student AGM Arka Sengupta

Sonkalan Bharati draws against Sa Kannan in a Bishop vs Knight Endgame

Sa Kannan missed a golden opportunity against GM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury

GM Neelotpal Das shares his opinion about the tournament.

There were 4 GMs, 5 IMs & 1 WIM among 159 participants across 9 different states, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The tournament also witnessed the return of India’s second and West Bengal’s 1st Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua to competitive chess since 2014 along with her wife WIM Saheli Dhar Barua.

Final Ranking List:

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	1	GM	Laxman R.R.			IND	2515	9,5	0,0	68,0	63,0	64,00	9,0	10	9,5	8,81	0,69	20	13,8
2	20	FM	Mitrabha Guha			IND	2019	8,5	0,0	65,5	61,0	52,50	8,0	10	8,5	6,31	2,19	20	43,8
3	39		Srijit Paul			IND	1778	8,0	0,0	68,5	64,5	52,00	8,0	10	8	3,28	4,72	20	94,4
4	2	GM	Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi			IND	2495	8,0	0,0	67,0	61,0	52,25	6,0	10	8	8,47	-0,47	20	-9,4
5	6	IM	Palit Somak			IND	2359	7,5	0,0	62,5	58,0	44,00	7,0	10	7,5	8,56	-1,06	10	-10,6
6	90		Arya Bhakta	12B		IND	1341	7,5	0,0	61,5	57,0	44,75	6,0	10	7,5	0,88	6,62	20	132,4
7	32	CM	Aronyak Ghosh	14B		IND	1860	7,0	0,0	69,5	64,0	46,00	5,0	10	7	4,38	2,62	20	52,4
8	11	IM	Roy Prantik			IND	2168	7,0	0,0	67,0	62,0	43,75	6,0	10	7	7,53	-0,53	20	-10,6
9	5	GM	Neelotpal Das			IND	2394	7,0	0,0	66,5	61,5	44,00	6,0	10	7	8,24	-1,24	20	-24,8
10	17		Kaustuv Kundu			IND	2032	7,0	0,0	66,5	61,5	43,00	6,0	10	7	6,10	0,90	20	18,0

Complete Standings

The Chessperts [ Organizers)

L to R: Tournament Director and Co-founder of Chesspert, AGM Sk Shahid Ahmed, Suraiya Ahmed and IM Neeraj Kumar Mishra.

About the author:

Shahid Ahmed is the First AGM (Arena Grandmaster) of India. He is a coach at Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy (DBCA) and The Heritage School. He is also the founder of chesspert.com. He manages the Facebook page of Bengal Chess Association and DBCA.