The long awaited dream has finally come true the State is now boast of having a chess grand Master (GM) , the elite and coveted title that only 33 others in our country of 1.2 billion people have achieved till date.
Debashis Das has become the maiden GM of State by crossing the magical 2500 elo rating by beating Anirudha Deshpande of Maharashtra in the eighth round of 51st National Challenger (national-B) Chess Championship at Bhopal on Friday. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik congratulated Das for his achievement.
International Master Debashis renamed as the first GM of the State. He started the tournament with three GM norms and 2497 Elo rating points after 8th round he touched the magic figure 2500 Elo rating points and scripted the title in his name. 20 years Debashis has a brilliant international and national track record for the past two years, Das bagged his maiden Grand Master norm after World Junior chess championship in Athens in the year 2012.
Debashis secured his second Grand Master norm by sharing points with Kolkata GM Surya Shekhar Ganguli in the ninth round and final round of the Dubai Open GM Chess Tournament, which concluded at Dubai on April 2013, the nine-day-long meet being organised by Dubai Chess and Cultural Club.
Das gathered total 6.5 points and finished 18th. Altogether 196 players including 38 GM, 26 IM were participated in the meet.Das who was bagged third GM norms in the Czech Republic Grand Master Open Chess Tournament at Pardubice in Czech Republic on July 2013.
In the tournament, Debashis (2478) beat Slovakia Grand Master Piter Michalik (2579) in 9th and final round to finish with 6.5 points. Earlier, he drew with GMs Dmitri Kononenko (Ukraine) and Philipp Schlosser (Germany) and beat IMs Bures Jaroslav and Chos Alexey (both of Czech Republic) to brighten his chance for the GM norms.
“The entire State has become proud of Debashis Das.We congratulate him on this stupendous achievement, and wish him all the best for all his future endeavours and the association announced a cash award of Rs 50,000,“ said All Odisha Chess Association secretary Vivek Tibarewal.