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Praloy Sahoo wins a 'Dream Moment'

by Shahid Ahmed - 25/11/2019

Top seed of the tournament Praloy Sahoo scored an unbeaten 6.5/7, finished a half point ahead of the competition and won Tata Steel Chess Festival All Bengal under-16 Rapid. That's not all, he had a big moment which still feels like a 'dream' to him as he made the inaugural first move on the board of Anand-Carlsen match of Tata Steel Chess India 2019 Rapid round 7. Five other champions were crowned in under-8, 12 and 16 age group in both boys and girls category. Souhardo Basak, Rajoshnish Bhattacharjee, Debapriya Manna, Arhashirsha Biswas and Anwesha Sinha are the winners in various age group categories. Total 193 players from various parts across the state of West Bengal participated in this event. Chief Guest GM Neelotpal Das distributed the prizes. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Praloy Sahoo wins Tata Steel Chess Festival All Bengal under-16 Rapid

Praloy receives his champion's trophy from GM Neelotpal Das and GM Dibyendu Barua | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Reigning West Bengal State Sub-Junior champion and National Schools under-15 runner-up Praloy Sahoo started out the tournament as the top seed and scored an unbeaten 6.5/7. He finished a half point ahead of the competition. But that was not all, he had a big surprise waiting for him.

Praloy makes the inaugural move of Anand-Carlsen match with 1.c4 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

He also made a handshake with both Vishy and Magnus | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Here is the 15-year-old boy from Santragachi's dream coming true moment

Round 7 inaugural move was made by Praloy Sahoo | Video: Sagar Shah

Praloy scored six consecutive wins and needed a draw in the final round to win the tournament

This is what he had to say when I asked him what did he feel when he got to know that he will make the first move on Anand-Carlsen match, "I thought an unimaginable dream is coming true. I got to know that I will get to make the first move and shake hands with both of them. Sumit Roy told me first that there is a surprise for you, after I won the tournament. Dibyendu Sir told me that I will go to the Anand-Carlsen board and do the first move. I was feeling quite nervous when I went there. I was told to play c4 or e4 as Carlsen plays them, I could not understand properly, so I played 1.c4. The pen I received from Carlsen, I have kept it safe and of course I won't use it. I made a mistake, I should have taken their autograph at that time. I got starstruck by seeing Carlsen so I mistakenly returned the pen I received from him. This is bigger than the trophy, it still feels like a dream."

 

However, the tenth standard student of Santragachi Kedarnath Institution's chess career may come to an abrupt end as his father says, "I make a meager amount of earnings. It is becoming difficult for me to continue taking him to various chess tournament. I am not sure how long I will be able to continue this."

U12 open champion - Souhardo Basak 6.0/7 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

U8 open champion - Rajoshnish Bhattacharjee 5.0/7 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

U12 girls champion - Debapriya Manna 5.0/7 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

U8 girls champion - Arhashirsha Biswas 5.0/7 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

U16 girls champion - Anwesha Sinha 4.5/7 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

For more photos, visit here.

Total 193 players participated from various parts across the state of West Bengal. Former National Rapid Champion GM Neelotpal Das was the Chief Guest of the Prize Distribution Ceremony.

Final Standings

Rk.SNoNameTypsexFEDRtgPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4  TB5 
11Praloy SahooU16IND16336,50,031,031,028,006
23AIMDebarghya SamantaU16IND15746,00,031,534,529,005
38Souhardo BasakU12IND14376,00,030,534,528,006
49Subhabrata RoyU16IND13346,00,030,532,527,005
55Arghya SenU16IND14756,00,029,530,525,255
64Aditya Bikram PaulU12IND15086,00,028,530,525,505
726Aritrya PalU12IND11936,00,028,029,023,505
824Ritabrata ChakrabortyU16IND12106,00,027,528,522,506
917Shresth MahapatraU12IND12566,00,027,030,025,006
1014Shounak MazumderU16IND12856,00,027,028,522,006
112Ayush JhaU16IND15865,50,531,035,026,255
1213Anurag SarkarU16IND12875,50,527,530,021,255
1318Sourjya MukherjeeU12IND12465,00,030,033,021,505
1427Soham BhattacharyyaU16IND11865,00,029,033,021,505
15138Puspal DattaU12IND05,00,029,033,021,005
1651Shourya PaulU12IND10825,00,029,032,522,005
176Shuvam RoyU16IND14695,00,029,032,020,005
1812Supratim GhoshU16IND12975,00,029,031,020,004
1936Debapriya MannaU12wIND11375,00,028,531,520,254
2015AIMAayush BhattacherjeeU12IND12715,00,028,531,020,005
2145Subham BhattacharjeeU12IND11045,00,028,030,519,005
2211Dhritabrata KunduU16IND12975,00,027,531,021,254
2338Agnim DuttaU12IND11355,00,027,530,519,505
2430Suvayan DeyU12IND11535,00,026,529,017,005
2555Ryan MandalU12IND10515,00,026,029,018,005

Complete standings