Organised By

ALEKHINE CHESS CLUB

At

Gorky Sadan, Kolkata

MEDIA RELEASE

MEDIA RELEASE - Round 10                         18-12-2010                      

Sayantan Das of Scottish Church Collegiate School has virtually  clinched 22^nd The Telegraph Schools Chess Championship with a round to spare. The tournament is being presented by Himani Sona Chandi Chawayanprash and organized by Alekhine Chess Club at Gorky Sadan. Sayantan , the defending champion drew against Diptayan Ghosh of South Point School to maintain his whole point lead over the rest of the field.Only in the eventuality of his losing his last round game will the complicated Buccholz tie-break system be applied to decide the winner. Sayantan is being followed by 5 players all of whom are on 8.5 points a full point behind him.

On the top board Diptayan played the Ruy Lopez and got a slight advantage of the double bishops but  because of the closed nature of the game he offered the peace treaty on the 29^th move, which was promptly accepted.

On the second board Saurabh Mandal of Shival High School , Jharkand won a queen for rook and bishop against second seeded Prince Bajaj of Delhi Public School. Ghaziabad to jump to the joint second spot.

Prasannaa.s. of Vellammal H.S.School faced hardly any opposition against Debankan Dhara of Vivekananda Mission School winning with a simple tactic. The game in a Petroff Defence was over in 30 moves.

South Point School is leading in the race for the Best School Trophy.

Multiple Grand Slam winner Leander Paes will be the Chief Guest at the prize distribution ceremony at Gorky Sadan on Monday, 20^th December at 4:00 p.m.

Top Board Results:-Round-10

Diptayan Ghosh (8.5) drew Sayantan Das (9.5)

Prince Bajaj (7.5)lost to  Saurabh Mandal (7.5)

S. Prasannaa (8.5)beat Debankan Dhara (7.5)

N.R. Vignesh (8.5) beat Dhriti Shankar (7.5)

N.R. Visakh (8.5) beat Kumar Gaurav (7.5)

Ved Prakash (7)lost to Chandrasish Majumdar (8)

Rahul Raj (7) lost to Aubhropratim Manna (8)

Saptorshi Gupta (7) lost to Aditya Chakraborty (8)

Nishant Malhotra (8) beat Debangshu Chakraborty (7)

Kaustuv Kundu (8) beat Raunak Mondal (7)

K.Sinha

Asstt.Secretary

MEDIA RELEASE - Round 8 & 9                         17-12-2010                      

The rest of the top board players at 22^nd  The Telegraph Schools Chess Championship will be playing catch up to Sayantan Das of Scottish Church Collegiate School in the next couple of rounds. The tournament is being presented by Himani Sona Chandi Chawayanprash and organized by Alekhine Chess Club at Gorky Sadan. Sayantan won both his games on a double round day and is almost assured of retaining his title. He has won all his nine games and is a whole point clear of a Diptayan Ghosh of South Point School after the ninth round. Seven more players are half a point further adrift with 7.5 points apiece.

On a tough day for the players because of the double rounds, Sayantan was at ease in both his games, winning with the black pieces against Chandrashish Majumdar of St.Xavier’s Collegiate School in the morning session and thereafter penetrating the defences of Nishant Malhotra of Bal Bharti Public School, New Delhi in the afternoon. Nishant did not castle in an irregular Queen Pawn opening and was punished with a pawn break which exposed his king, resulting in the loss of an exchange for him. He eventually threw in the towel in a hopeless position.

Diptayan managed to eke out a win against his schoolmate Kaustuv Kundu in a long ending. Kaustuv was saddled with isolated pawns and this proved his undoing in the end. Diptayan is the current U-13 National Champion and he faces off with Sayantan in a high voltage clash in the tenth round which could decide the championship. Both Diptayan and Sayantan are students of Goodricke National Chess Academy.

Prasannaa.s. of Vellammal H.S.School bounced back into the reckoning for a top spot with a resounding victory over Kumar Sanu of Delhi Public School , Dhanbad in 46 moves of a Sicilian defence game.

Top Board Results:-Round-8

Chandrashish Majumder(6.5) lost to Sayantan Das (8)

Prasannaa.s (6.5) drew with  Saurabh  Mandal (7)

Prince Bajaj (7) beat Saptorshi Gupta (6)

Nishant Kumar (6) lost to Diptayan Ghosh(7)

Dhriti Shankar (7) beat  Aditya Chakraborty(6)

Kumar Sanu(6.5) drew with Aradhya Sekhar Bagchi (6.5)

Nishant Malhotra (7) beat Sraman Bhowmick (6)

Ved Prakash (6) lost to Debankan Dhara (7)

Kaustuv Kundu (7) beat Akash Tewari (6)

Sudarshan Mitra (6.5) drew with Sumit Kumar (6.5)

Top Board Results:-Round-9

Sayantan Das (9) beat Nishant Malhotra (7)

Debankan Dhara (7.5) drew with  Prince Bajaj (7.5)

Diptayan Ghosh (8) beat Kaustuv Kundu (7)

Saurabh Mandal (7.5) drew with Dhriti Shankar (7.5)

Sumit Kumar (7) drew with  Chandrashish Majumdar (7)

Kumar Sanu (6.5) lost to Prasannaa.s. (7.5)

Shoumi Mukherjee (6.5) lost to Vignesh Nr (7.5)

Mitrabha Guha (6.5) lost to Visakh Nr (7.5)

Aditya Chakraborty (7) beat Sudarshan Mitra (6.5)

K.Sinha

Asstt.Secretary

MEDIA RELEASE - Round 7                                   16-12-2010                      

Sayantan Das of Scottish Church Collegiate School  shot into the sole lead after the seventh round of 22^nd  The Telegraph Schools Chess Championship being presented by Himani Sona Chandi Chawayanprash and organized by Alekhine Chess Club at Gorky Sadan. He has a clean slate of seven points and is being closely followed by a couple of players Chandrashish Majumdar and Saurabh Mandal who are half a point adrift.

Sayantan surprised his opponent Prasannaa.s of Velammal H.S.School with the Queen pawn opening and then varied with a side line to get a slight positional advantage. He won a pawn on the queenside and then gobbled up another queenside pawn after which it was curtains for his opponent. He eventually won in 46 moves. Sayantan is a former U-12 World Champion and has justified his top billing so far.

On the second board Chandrashish Majumdar of St. Xavier’s Collegiate School took a quick 19 move draw against Prince Bajaj of Delhi Public School,in a Sicilian defence game.

Aradhya Sekhar Bagchi of Calcutta Boy’s School managed to hold third seeded Diptayan Ghosh of South Point School in 27 moves of an irregular Queen Pawn opening.

Saurabh Mandal of Shivlal High School, Jharkhand beat Vignesh Nr of Maharishi Vidya Mandir, Tamil Nadu in an irregular King Pawn opening game. Saurabh played tactically to bag the point and the second spot.

In other top board games Aditya Chakraborty of Delhi Public School, Ruby Park , Debankan Dhara of Vivekananda Mission School, Kaustuv Kundu of South Point School and Sumit Kumar of Uttarpara Children’s Own Home were victorious against their respective opponents. All these players are on 6 points apiece alongwith a host of others.

Top Board Results:-Round-7

Sayantan Das (7) beat Prasannaa.s. (6)

Chandrashish Majumdar (6.5) drew with  Prince Bajaj (6)

Aradhya Sekhar Bagchi (6) drew with  Diptayan Ghosh (6)

Saurabh Mandal(6.5) beat Vignesh Nr(5.5)

Aditya Chakraborty(6) beat Sankalan Bharti (5)

Debankan Dhara(6) beat Anustoop Biswas(5)

Saurabh Anand(5) lost to Kaustuv Kundu (6)

Manish Kumar(5) lost to Sumit Kumar (6)

K.Sinha

Asstt.Secretary

MEDIA RELEASE - Round 6                        15-12-2010                      

Three players Sayantan Das, Chandrashish Majumdar and Prasannaa.s  shared the lead after the sixth round of 22^nd  The Telegraph Schools Chess Championship being presented by Himani Sona Chandi Chawayanprash and organized by Alekhine Chess Club at Gorky Sadan.

Sayantan Das of Scottish Church Collegiate School won a queenside pawn against Aubhropratim Manna of Don Bosco School Park Circus in a Four Knights game. Even though Aubhropratim had the advantage of the white pieces he could not do much in the game. After losing a pawn he tried to drum up some complications on the kingside but these were easily refuted.

Chandrashish Majumdar of St.Xavier’s Collegiate School won a pawn against Kaustuv Kundu of South Point School and thereafter nursed his advantage to an easy victory.

Second seeded Prince Bajaj of Delhi Public School, Ghaziabad won a pawn against Vignesh Nr of Maharishi Vidya Mandir, Tamil Nadu but could not convert this into a win because of the resolute defence of his opponent.

Third seeded Diptayan Ghosh of South Point School played impressively in the endgame to win against one of the overnight leaders Akash Tewari of Children’s Villa. Diptayan the current National U-13 champion did not get much out of the opening but combined his knight and queen effectively to wrap up the point in 35 moves.

Sixth seeded Prasannaa.s of Velammal H.S.School Tamil Nadu got a fierce kingside attack against Sayan Majumdar of Indira Gandhi Memorial High School . Prasannaa adopted the Scotch opening and placed his major pieces effectively to win a fine game.

Mitrabha Guha of South Point School went down tamely to Aradhya Sekhar Bagchi of Calcutta Boys School. Mitrabha missed a simple tactic and his game went downhill thereafter. Mitrabha is the current National U-9 champion and a former Asian U-8 champion.

In a minor upset Dangol Bijaya of Annapurna Higher Secondary School, Nepal lost to lower rated Manish Kumar of High School Sonaho, Jharkhand on the tenth board.

Top Board Results:-Round-6

Aubhropratim Manna  (5) lost to  Sayantan Das (6)

Vignesh Nr (5.5) drew with  Prince Bajaj(5.5)

Kaustuv Kundu (5) lost to Chandrashish Majumdar (6)

Prasannaa.s.(6) beat  Sayan Majumdar(5)

Diptayan Ghosh (5.5) beat  Akash Tewari(5)

Sumit Kumar(5) drew with Aditya Chakraborty(5)

Mitrabha Guha (4.5) lost to Aradhya Sekhar Bagchi(5.5)

Protiva Talukdar (4.5) lost to Saurabh Mandal(5.5)

Nishant Malhotra(5) beat Sayantan Chandra(4)

Dangol Bijaya(4) lost to  Manish Kumar (5)

K.Sinha

Asstt.Secretary

MEDIA RELEASE - Round5                           14-12-2010

Sayantan Das of Scottish Church Collegiate School is looking invincible at  22^nd  The Telegraph Schools Chess Championship being presented by Himani Sona Chandi Chawayanprash and organized by Alekhine Chess Club at Gorky Sadan.

In his fifth round game, Sayantan, a former World U-12 champion and also  defending champion of the meet,went for an all out kingside attack against the Sicilian defence adopted by Nishant Kumar of Rajendra Vidyalaya, Jharkhand. His Queen, bishop and Rook exerted extreme pressure and Sayantan even left his queen hanging at one stage to wrap up the miniature win in 22 moves. He is expected to face more resistance in the forthcoming rounds when he is pitted against some of the other higher seeded players.  

Second seeded, Prince Bajaj of Delhi Public School, Ghaziabad sacrificed a piece to expose the king of Dhriti Shankar of St,Mary’s School. His more active pieces thereafter ensured that his attack would be irrefutable. He then liquidated into an endgame with an exchange up and thereafter it was just a matter of technique.

Prasannaa.s of Velammal H.S. School, Tamil Nadu  was impressive once again in overcoming Arpan Das of Hartley’s High School. After Prasannaa adopted the Sicilian defence both the players castled on opposite sides but the Tamil players attack came quicker and he wove a mating net around his opponents king to bag the point in 29 moves.

On the fifth board it was an interesting tussle between Aubhropratim Manna of Don Bosco School, Park Circus and former Commonwealth U-10 champion Shoumi Mukerjee of Kendriya Vidyalaya. Aubhropratim played the English opening and squeezed out a positional victory in 40 moves.

Chandrashish Majumdar of St.Xavier’s Collegiate School won in 36 moves against Kumar Sanu of Delhi Public School, Dhanbad. Chandrashish’s had a couple of passed pawns on the queenside which were unstoppable.

Top Board Results:- Round-5

Sayantan Das(5) beat Nishant Kumar(4)

Prince Bajaj(5) beat Dhriti Shankar(4)

Chandrashish Majumder(5) beat Kumar Sanu(4)

Arpan Das(4) lost to Prasannaa.s(5)

Aubhropratim Manna(5) beat Shoumi Mukerjee(4)

Ankit Sinha (4) lost to Vignesh Nr. (5)

Aditya Chakraborty (4.5) drew with   Mitrabha Guha (4.5)

Aradhya Sekhar Bagchi (4.5) drew with  Protiva Talukder (4.5)

Akash Tewari(5) beat  Nishant Malhotra (4)

MEDIA RELEASE-Round4                                 13-12-2010

Most of the higher seeded players surprisingly did not face much  resistance from their lower FIDE rated opponents in their encounters at 22^nd  The Telegraph Schools Chess Championship which is being presented by Himani Sona Chandi Chawayanprash and organized by Alekhine Chess Club at Gorky Sadan.

 There were only a couple of exceptions. Third seeded Diptayan Ghosh of South Point School inexplicably took a quick 20 move draw against his much lower rated opponent Suvradeepta Das of Aditya Academy. Diptayan tried the Scandinavian defence with the black pieces and did not press for a win when Suvradeepta maintained the equilibrium.

Vignesh Nr of Maharishi Vidya Mandir won in a long game on the seventh board in 67 moves against  Subhayan Kundu of Aditya Academy.

On the top board Sayantan Das of Scottish Church Collegiate School played the black side of a Ruy Lopez opening against Subhasis Barik of O.D.M.Public School and crashed through on the kingside to wrap up the point in 37 moves.

Prince Bajaj of Delhi Public School, Ghaziabad employed the Sicilian defence against Deep Dutta of Jodhpur Park Boys School and got a thematic breakthrough on the queenside to win easily.

Chandrashish Majumdar of St.Xaviers Collegiate School won a miniature in only 23 moves , with the black pieces against Sayantan Kundu of Aditya Academy. Sayantan could not fathom the French defence of Chandrashish and went down tamely.

Prasannaa.s of Velammal Higher Secondary School, Tamil Nadu played impressively to checkmate Saptorshi Gupta of Vivekananda Mission School in 42 moves.

Aradhya Sekhar Bagchi of Calcutta Boys School also won quickly in only 24 moves against Ritabroto Ganguly of South Point School.

Top Board Results:-

Subhasis Barik (3) lost to Sayantan Das(4)

Deep Dutta(3) lost to Prince Bajaj (4)

Suvradeepta Das (3.5) drew with Diptayan Ghosh (3.5)

Sayantan Kundu (3) lost to Chandrashish Majumdar(4)

Prasannaa.s (4) beat Saptorshi Gupta (3)

Vignesh Nr (4) beat Subhayan Kundu (3)

Paudel Roshan (3) lost to Aditya Chakraborty(4)

Ritabroto Ganguly (3) lost to Aradhya Sekhar Bagchi(4)

Nishant Malhotra(4) beat Raunak Mondal(3)

K.Sinha

Asstt.Secretary

MEDIA RELEASE-Round 2 & 3                                  12-12-2010

Most of the top guns had  short victories in the second  round morning session at  22^nd  The Telegraph Schools’ Chess Championship being presented by Himani Sona Chandi Chawayanprash and organized by Alekhine Chess Club at Gorky Sadan.

It was a test of stamina and patience for all the players on a day slotted with two rounds which spanned most of the day.

The third round games played in the afternoon were sterner tests for the top seeds with most of them being paired against other FIDE rated players.

The defending champion and  top seeded Sayantan Das of Scottish Church Collegiate School played aggressively against the Pirc defence adopted by  his schoolmate Sraman Bhowmick rolling his central pawns to gain space and eventually bag the point in 31 moves.Sayantan is a former World U-12 Champion.

Prince Bajaj of Delhi Public School, Ghaziabad employed the Ruy Lopez opening against Trinath Ghosh of M.C.Kejrival Vidyapeeth.  He got a positional advantage and  nursed this into a win in 39 moves. Prince is a former Asian U-8 Champion and the Current C.B.S.E School’s Champion.

Tamal Naskar of Maria’s Day School declined the Queen’s Gambit of Diptayan Ghosh of South Point School . Diptayan obtained a bind against the backward queenside pawn of his opponent and won a pawn in the centre but Tamal defended stubbornly.Diptayan eventually managed to switch his pieces to the  kingside which culminated into a mating attack . Diptayan is the current National U-13 Champion and Runner-up in the Asian U-12.

Chandrashish Majumdar of St.Xavier’s Collegiate School opened  with the  Kings pawn  against Sourjyendu Malakar  of Vivekananda Mission School. The game eventually transposed into the four Knight’s game. Chandrashish won a piece and thereafter it was just a matter of technique for him.

Neelash Saha of Nava Nalanda put up a spirited fight against Prasannaa.s. of Velammal Matriculation Higher Sec School, Tamil Nadu but had to eventually throw in the towel after 58 moves.

Aubhropratim Manna of Don Bosco School, Park Circus won a pawn against Satya Sekhar Mitra of Lake Point School and eventually converted his advantage in a long ending.

The youngest boy Hrishiraj Chowdhury of Mongrace Montessori scored his first point in the second round and the youngest girl Ritiwika Ghosh of South Point lost again and is yet to open her account. 

Seven of the orphan boys from Future Hope School won their third round games.

A couple of Visually challenged students are also participating in the tournament.

Top Board Results- (Round-2)

Bidisha Roy(1) lost to Sayantan Das (2)

Prince Bajaj (2) beat Bikranta Ghosh(1)

Bipasha Patra(1) lost to Diptayan Ghosh(2)

Debdeep Das (1) lost to Chandrashish Majumdar(2)

Prasannaa.s.(2) beat Catherine Ruhi Tirkey(1)

Debjyoti Das (1) lost to Aubhropratim Manna (2)

Vignesh Nr. (2) beat Chayan Paul (1)

Devyand Sawalka (1) lost to Aditya Chakraborty(2)

Visakh Nr.(2) beat Debayan Chakraborty(1)

Garima Bararia (1) lost to Aradhya Sekhar Bagchi (1)

Top Board Results- (Round-3)

Sayantan Das(3) beat Sraman Bhowmick(2)

Prince Bajaj (3) beat Trinath Ghosh(2)

Diptayan Ghosh (3) beat Tamal Naskar(2)

Chandrashish Majumdar(3) beat Sourjyendu Malakar(2)

Neelash Saha(2) lost to Prasannaa.s. (3)

Sameer Sengar (2) lost to Vignesh Nr (3)

K.Sinha

Asstt.Secretary
ALEKHINE CHESS CLUB

MEDIA RELEASE                                                   11-12-2010       AFTER ROUND 1

The top seeds expectedly sailed through their first round games at 22^nd  The Telegraph Schools’ Chess Championship being presented by Himani Sona Chandi Chawayanprash and organized by Alekhine Chess Club at Gorky Sadan.

Former World U-12 champion and top seed and defending champion , Sayantan Das of Scottish Church Collegiate School had an easy outing against Joy Majumdar of Shree Bharti School winning in 42  moves.

Former Asian U-8 Champion Prince Bajaj  of Delhi Public School,Ghaziabad was also not troubled by K.Lalrinfela of Oxford Mission School ,Mizoram even though he had the black pieces.

Diptayan Ghosh of South Point School did not face much resistance from Kalpok Guha of Patha Bhabhan. Checkmating his opponent in only 12 moves.   Diptayan is the reigning National U-13 Champion.

Current Commonwealth U-12 Champion Sidhant Mohapatra of Saraswati  Sishumandir, Orissa got a walkover from Kamal Sarkar of Shri Shikshayatan.

Chandrashish Majumdar of St.Xavier’s Collegiate School had a comfortable 30 move victory over Kaustav Saha of Apeejay School.

Prasannaa.s of Velammal Matriculation Higher Sec School, Tamil Nadu was the only top seed who was stretched. He eventually  overpowered Kaveri Sharma of  Mahadevi Birla Girls H.S. School in 38 moves.

Alekhine Chess Club has also informed that only one  Bangladeshi player Protiva Talukdar has arrived . The other five invitees have  not received their Visas and are unlikely to participate.

Earlier the tournament was inaugurated by Grandmaster Surya Sekhar Ganguly who was discovered at the first Telegraph Schools’ Chess Championship 22 years ago. He said “I played here as a five year old in 1988 but nowadays I can see that there are even younger participants”.  Also present on the occasion were Mr. Dhruva Mukherjee Assosiate Vice President of The Telegraph, Mr.A.Mazirka, Director of Gorky Sadan  and Mr.Udayan Kanti Ghosh , Joint Secretary,  All India Chess Federation .

Top board  results:-

Sayantan Das (1) beat Joy Majumdar (0)

K.Lalrinfela (0) lost to Prince Bajaj (1)

Diptayan Ghosh (1) beat Kalpok Guha (0)

Kamal Sarkar (0) lost to Sidhant Mohapatra (1)

Chandrashish Majumder (1) beat Kaustav Saha (0)

Kaveri Sharma (0) lost to Prasannaa.s (1)

Aubhropratim Manna (1) beat Keshav Agarwal(0)

Kirti Kumar (0) lost to Vignesh Nr. (1)

Aditya Chakraborty(1) beat Komal Shah(0)

Koustav Chatterjee(0) lost to Visakh Nr.(1)

 K.Sinha

Asstt.Secretary

MEDIA RELEASE BEFORE ROUND 1

Postal and physical address

Gorky Sadan, 3 Gorky Terrace (near Minto Park/ Camac Street), Kolkata 700017
( junction of Camac Street and Acharya J. C. Bose Road - opposite to Park Nursing Home )

Tele Fax number : 0091 33 22832746,      Tel No : 0091 33 2280 3957 / 3858

Email ID :  , 

Emergency mobile numbers

Mr. Soumen Majumder :     9830133144

 Mr. Kenneth Sinha :             9830160540

 Mr Indrajit Das :                   9830479209

Mr Rajendra Singh :            98305 58459

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