Railway International Master Somak Palit emerged champion in the 7th Keshabananda Das Memorial FIDE Rating Chess Tournament, garnering eight points out of a possible nine here at Hotel Empires today. Top seed Palit received a cash prize of Rs 50,000.

Suyog Wagh of Maharashtra and Arpan Das of West Bengal finished second and third respectively with 7.5 points each. Wagh pocketed Rs 30,000, while Das became richer by Rs 20,000. Smaraki Mohanty was most successful among Odisha players, finishing 13th with 6.5 points.

A total of 249 players from 12 states participated in the five-day tournament, which was organised by Khordha District Chess Association (KDCA), under the aegis of All Odisha Chess Association (AOCA). The nine-round tournament carried a total prize fund of Rs 5 lakhs.

State Higher Education Secretary GV V Sarma gave away the trophy and cash prizes in the closing function. AOCA secretary KK Sharma, KDCA secretary Subhasis Patnaik, chief arbiter Asit Baran Choudhury, international arbiter Tapas Kumar Mohanty were present on the occasion.

FINAL PLACINGS (Top 20): 1. IM Somak Palit (RLY, 8), 2. Suyog Wagh (MAH, 7.5), 3. Arpan Das (WB, 7.5), 4. Pradip Tiwari (DASCB, 7), 5. Utsab Chatterjee (WB, 7), 6. Akhilesh Nagare (MAH, 7), 7. IM VAV Rajesh (TN, 7),  8. Indrajeet Mahindrakar (MAH, 7), 9. Bala Kannamma P (TN, 7), 10. Sreeshwan Maralakshikari (TEL, 7), 11. WFM Saranya J (TN, 6.5), 12. Sibi Visal R (TN, 6.5), 13. Smaraki Mohanty (ODI, 6.5), 14. AGM Sa Kannan (TN, 6.5), 15. Sanjeeban Nayak (ODI, 6.5), 16. Rakesh Kumar Nayak (ODI, 6.5), 17. Ahmed Feroz (BAN. 6.5), 18. Ankit Kumar Singh (JHAR, 6.5), 19. Soumya Ranjan Sahoo (ODI, 6.5), 20. Debashis Majumder (WB, 6.5).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PHOTO: Top three prize winners with guest and organizing officials in Bhubaneswar on April 14, 2018.