Khordha lad Biswajit Nayak won the title in the Odisha State Under-25 Chess Championship, which was organised by Khordha District Chess Association, under the aegis of All Odisha Chess Association at Swami Vivekananda Institute, Pokhariput here from June 3 to 5, 2017.

Altogether 79 players participated in the seven-round competition. Biswajit scored 6.5 points out of a possible seven. Ansuman Samal (Cuttack), Sambit Panda (Khordha) and Nilsu Pattnayak (Cuttack) finished second, third and fourth respectively.

Swami Vivekananda Institute founder president Lokanath Patra handed over the prizes in the presence of KDCA secretary Subhasis Patnaik and chief arbiter Tapas Mohanty. The top four finishers qualified to represent Odisha in the National U-25 Open Chess Championship, scheduled to be held at Andaman & Nicobar Island from July 13 to 20, 2017.

FINAL RANKINGS (Top 10): 1. Biswajit Nayak (Khordha, 6.5), 2. Ansuman Samal (Cuttack, 6), 3. Sambit Panda (Khordha, 6), 4. Nilsu Pattnayak (Cuttack, 6), 5. Biswanath Samantaray (Khordha, 5.5), 6. Susobhit Das (Sundargarh, 5.5), 7. Baivab Mishra (Puri, 5), 8. Harshit Ranjan Sahu (Cuttack, 5), 9. Yasoman Patro (Puri, 5), 10. Swapnil Priyadarshi (Khordha, 5).
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PHOTO: Top four prize winners with guests in Bhubaneswar on June 5, 2017.