SUBHASH MISHRA
Ranchi, Jan 27: Devanjan Sinha of Jharkhand clinched the title in the 5th Navin Sinha Memorial All India Open Rapid Chess Tournament, organized by the West Singhbhum Chess Association at Chaibasa’s St. Xavier Welfare Centre on Republic Day.
Himal Gusai secures second place
In the nine-round tournament, Devanjan Sinha from Jamshedpur scored the highest with eight points, emerging as the champion. Top-seeded Himal Gusai from Chandigarh, who also scored eight points, secured second place based on tie-break rules. Arpan Das from West Bengal, with 7.5 points, finished third. Karji Manendra and Tapan Badamundi from Odisha claimed the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
The closing ceremony, held in the evening, had Jharkhand’s Transport and Land Reform Minister, Deepak Birua, as the chief guest. He, along with SDO Sandip Anurag Topna and police officer Bahman Tuti, distributed trophies to the winners.
The minister commended the West Singhbhum Chess Association for organizing an All India chess tournament and remarked that such competitions would help state players compete at the international level. He also assured his support for future chess tournaments in the region.
Organizing Secretary Basant Khandelwal highlighted that a total of 227 players from eight states participated in the tournament, including 87 players with international chess ratings.
In addition to the main event, several individual prizes were awarded:
- Best Unrated Player: Kumar Dimple
- Under-11 Boys Champion: Wrishi Raj
- Under-13 Boys Champion: Kush Mudra
- Under-15 Boys Champion: Prajjwal Sarkar
- Under-11 Girls Champion: Soujanya Subhashni Pal
- Under-13 Girls Champion: Samridhi Priya
- Under-15 Girls Champion: Aditi Kashyap
Rajesh Kumar from West Singhbhum was declared the Best Veteran Player, while Veena Kumari was named the Best Woman Player of the tournament.
Earlier, the tournament was inaugurated by Vijay Kumar Singh, Vice President of the Jharkhand Chess Association, along with District Chess Association Vice President Jahagir Alam and Pawan Khirwar. The event was conducted by Jaideo Tripathi, with Jahagir Alam delivering the vote of thanks. Other dignitaries present included Arpit Khirwar, Juel Gagrai, Suraj Tiu, Subrat Chandra Tripathi, and Praveen Prakash.