Utkal Ranjan Sahoo of Odisha gained 74 points elo rating but finishing 19th scoring 8.5 points by the end of the 13th round in the 53rd National Challenger (B) Chess Championship, which concluded at Naivedhyam Celebration Centre in Nagpur on Thursday. Swapnil Dhopade of Railways became Champion by scoring 10 points from 13 rounds.
Odisha’s GM Debashis Das bagged the champion title in the year 2012 but was not participated this year. IM Sehekhar Sahu bagged the title in the year 1990, before that Pabitra Mohan Mohanty claimed the top prizes in the year 1979 and 1981. The Odisha’s past was glorious but loosing the stack day by day in the national meet.
Other Odisha players, IM S Satyapragyan scored (8.5 points, 21st), IM Swayams Mishra (8 points, 40th), Rakesh Jena (7.5 points, 68th), Ansuman Samal (6 points, 152nd), Rajesh Nayak (6 points, 156th), Susobhit Das (5.5 points, 195th), Rudransh Kumar Meher (5 points, 218th) and Raj Santosh Panda (4.5 points, 226th). The top nine finishers of the meet got qualified for the national challenger chess championship.