BHUBANESWAR 27-Apr-2014 263
Puri teenager Baivab Mishra achieved the biggest success of his career by capturing the title in the 55th Odisha State Senior Fide Rating Chess Championship at Modern Engineering & Management Studies campus in Balasore today.
A Plus-Two second year science student of SCS College (Puri), Baivab beat his district-mate Sourav Mohanty in the 10th and final round to finish at the top of the table with 8.5 points. He pocketed a cash prize of Rs 10,000.
Overnight joint-leader Rakesh Kumar Nayak (Khurda) settled with the runner-up prize of Rs 7,000. He drew his last game against top seed Sidhant Mohapatra (Bhadrak) to secure eight points. Fide Master Rakesh Kumar Jena (Jajpur) and Mohapatra finished third and fourth respectively, garnering 7.5 points each.
A total of 88 players from 12 districts joined the 10-round tournament, which was hosted by Balasore Dist Chess Association, under the aegis of All Odissa Chess Association.The top four finishers qualified to represent Odisha in the National Challenger Championship, scheduled to be held at Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh from May 9 to 19.
FINAL STANDINGS (Top 15): 1. Baivab Mishra (Puri, 8.5), 2. Rakesh Kumar Nayak (Khurda, 8), 3. Rakesh Kumar Jena (Jajpur, 7.5), 4. Sidhant Mohapatra (Bhadrak, 7.5), 5. Saina Salonika (Khurda, 7), 6. Subhasis Barik (Khurda, 7), 7. Ashirwad Swain (Cuttack, 7), 8. Sourav Mohanty (Puri, 7), 9. Diptanshu Ranjan Swain (Rourkela, 7), 10. Debasis Chakrabarty (Balasore, 7), 11. Dasharathi Sahoo (Khurda, 7), 12. Susobhit Das (Rourkela, 6.5), 13. Ansuman Samal (Cuttack, 6.5), 14. Santosh Kumar Mohapatra (Dhenkanal, 6.5), 15. Smaraki Mohanty (Kendrapara, 6.5).
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PHOTO: Baivab Mishra in action at the State Senior Chess Championship in Balasore on April 26, 2014
