Bhubaneswar: Orissa’s first chess Grandmaster Debashis Das finished in sole 10th position with seven points at the Gibraltar Chess Championships which concluded Thursday at the Spanish island. In the 10-round competition the Orissa chess wizard finished with seven points – four wins and six draws. He remained unbeaten in the event.
Debashis got a whopping 31.5 ELO rating points due to his results and drubbed it as the best performance of his career. “It is one of the top open tournaments in the world. I am pretty much satisfied that I finished in the top 10. In fact this is my first international tournament, where I have finished in the top 10. I have played in Gibraltar thrice in the past and have never got more than 10 ELO rating points,” an elated Debashis stated over WhatsApp from the venue.
Since October 2013 when Debashis became a GM, he has been stuck at the 2500 ELO rating points. “I was desperate to break the barrier. I am very happy that I have been able to do it. My current rating is 2508 points. However, when my next rating will come out, it will help me break into the Indian top 20. It’s a great achievement for me,” he informed.
“This performance will motivate me to work harder in future. I was pretty focused during the tournament and had loads of self-belief. However, I had never expected such great results. My hard work paid off and I just hope I can continue to maintain the same standard in future,” added the Orissa chess maestro.
Debashis said that since his entry was confirmed December 26 only, he had little time to prepare. I did nothing special… I usually train for 7-8 hours a day and that helped,” informed Debashis.
Debashis is currently taking online training from a Polish Grandmaster. “Even though online training is pretty expensive, the training stints have helped. It has helped me improve my defensive tactics,” said Debashis. “It helped as I could salvage situation in games I could have lost,” he added.
Debashis rates his victories against Venezuelan Iturrizaga Bonelli Edurado (ninth round), World No.17, the Czech Republic player Navara David as his best in the tournament. He also defeated compatriot Sandipan Chanda who has a better Elo rating.
“All the players against whom I won or drew were higher-rated. They were way ahead of me in terms points. That is why I rate this performance so high,” he said.
Agencies