Barak Valley Open Chess: Minor Abhrajyoti Nath defeats state champions, wins open Category

The maiden edition of the Barak Valley Open Chess Tournament: Winter 2021 concluded today at Rotary Club of Silchar, Tarapur.

Organized by the Cachar District Chess Association (CDCA) in collaboration with the Rotary and Rotaract Club of Silchar, the two-day tournament featured 63 players across all categories and was moderated by chief arbiter Pradeep Kumar Roy from Tripura, who is a FIDE rated International arbiter.

Affiliated under the All Assam Chess Association (AACA), the tournament had five categories, U-7, U-9, U-11, U-13 and U-15 categories excluding the open category, which also offered cash prize along with the trophy.

After the last day of the tournament, the open category Late Senjam Shantanu Singha Memorial Trophy was won by Abhrajyoti Nath (1357 Ratings) with 6 points from six victories.

Following him at on the winning charts were Soram Rahul Singh (2051 Ratings) and Rajib Dhar (2052 Ratings).

This marks the first-ever instance of a junior level player winning an open category tournament in Silchar beating all his senior-level rivals. On his way towards victory, he managed to beat three state-level champions including current champion Iftikar Alom Mazumder in the 4th round, last year champion Soram Rahul Singh in the 5th round, and Assam highest rated player Rajib Dhar in the final round. Abhrajyoti is currently studying in the 6th standard and is from Silchar Collegiate School.

The U-9 age group category Ranadhir Dhar trophy in the female category was won by Tanishka Sharma and in a male category by Adarsh Debnath. The U-11 age group category titled Late Rakesh Ranjan Dhar trophy was bagged by Debarati Dey and Abhijit Barbhuiya in female & male categories respectively. The U-7, U-13 and U-15 categories are named Late Karuna Sindhu Dey trophy. The U-7 age group category was bagged by Bhavyansh Sharma followed by Monodeep Dhar and Bhargab Debnath. In U-13, Surgeta Singh and Snehal Roy came out victorious in female and male categories respectively. Similarly, in the U-15 category, Ruptalin Teronpi and Tomojit Paul clinched the top spot in female and male categories respectively.