BHUBANESWAR 18-Oct-2013 202
Debashis Das made Odisha proud by becoming the first chess Grandmaster of the state and 34th of the country today. He achieved the coveted title by crossing the 2500 elo rating, defeating Anirudha Deshpande in the eight round of the 51st National Challengers Championship being played at Bhopal (MP).
The 21-year-old Odisha IM, who started as the defending champion with a rating of 2497, now shares the second position with GMs MR Lalith Babu and SP Sethuraman (both PSPB). The trio with 6.5 points apiece is trailing joint-leaders MS Thejkumar and Akshat Khamparia (both Railways) by half-a-point.
``The long-awaited dream has finally come true. Odisha can now boast of having a chess Grandmaster, the coveted title that only 33 others in our country of 1.2 billion people have achieved till date. Entire Odisha has become proud of Debashis,’’ said All Odisha Chess Association secretary Vivek Tibarewal, who also announced a cash award of Rs 50,000 for the new GM.
``Hard work, perseverance and dedication has finally bore fruit for Kanha (nick name of Debashis). We are mighty happy for his achievement,’’ said the GM’s father Dillip Kumar Das. ``For the past three months he was leaving alone in Bhubaneswar, preparing rigorously to complete the 2500 elo rating,`` he added.
``A decade-long struggle and sacrifice finally brought the desired success. By becoming a Grandmaster he has proved that hard work and determination never go in vain. ,’’ said Debashis’ mother Namita Das.
A Plus-Three second year science student of Gobindpur College, Debashis secured his third and final Grandmaster norm in the A category of the Czech Open Grandmaster Tournament at Pardubice (Czech Republic) earlier this year on July 27. He had claimed his first GM norm in the World Junior Championship at Athens in August, 2012 and the second at the 15th Dubai Open in April this year.
FACTFILE: DEBASHIS DAS
Born: June 27, 1993
National debut: 2002 Under-9 National championship at Lucknow.
International debut: 2005 Asian Youth Championship at Delhi.
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS:
National:
* Runner-up in the 2010 U-17 Nationals at Jammu.
* Title winner in the 2012 Challengers Nationals at Tirupati
International:
* Gold in the u-16 open category of the 2008 World Youth Championship at Vung Tan (Vietnam).
* Gold in the u-16 open category of the 2009 World Youth Olympiad at Turkey.
* Became the third IM of Odisha in January, 2010.
* Silver in u-18 open category of the 2010 Commonwealth Championship at Delhi.
* Gold in u-18 open category of the 2011 Asian Youth Championship in Philippines.
* Bronze in u-18 open category of the 2011 World Youth Championship at Caldas Novas (Brazil).
* Secured the first GM norm in the World Junior Championship at Athens in August, 2012.
* Clinched the third and final GM norm in the Czech Open GM Tournament at Pardubice (Czech Republic) on July 27, 2013.
FUTURE GOALS:
* To become a Super GM with a ELO of 2650 and secured a place among top 100 in the world.
* To contribute to the theory of chess and be remembered as a unique chess player of the world.
