BHUBANESWAR 03-Aug-2017
Odisha International Master Anwesh Upadhyaya captured the title in the National Rapid Chess Championship, which was organised by Bengal Chess Association at Bhowanipur Education Society College in Kolkata from August 1 to 3, 2017. Despite losing to top seed Grand Master R R Laxman, 25-year-old emerged champion, scoring nine points out of a possible 11.
Seeded tenth, Anwesh won eight games and drew two. He defeated Rithwik Raaj Anand, Shrutarshi Ray, Anustoop Biswas, Niladri Shekhar Bhattacharya (all Bengal); WGM Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB), Dinesh K Sharma (LIC), Baivab Mishra (Odisha) and S Nitin (Railways). Anwesh drew his seventh and eighth games against Saravana Krishna P (TN) and K Rathnakaran (Railways) respectively.
The National Rapid Championship attracted six GMs, one WGM (Soumya), 11 IMs and 188 players in all. The tournament director was IM Atanu Lahiri.
FINAL PLACINGS: 1. IM Anwesh Upadhyaya (Odi) 9/11; 2-6. P Saravanakrishnan (TN), GM R.R. Laxman (Rly), GM Neelotpal Das (PSPB), GM Sriram Jha (LIC), GM Deep Sengupta (PSPB) 8.5 each; 7-14. Koustav Chatterjee (WB), IM K Ratnakaran (Rly), IM D K Sharma (LIC), IM P Shyaamnikhil (TN), IM S Nitin (Rly), CM Aronyak Ghosh (WB), GM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury (Rly) 8 each.
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PHOTO: Anwesh Upadhyaya after winning the National Rapid title in Kolkata on August 3, 2017.
