Third seed and Odisha International Master Debashis Das clinched the title along with a cash prize of Rs 60,000 in the 50th National Challenger Chess Championship, which concluded at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh today. In the 13-tround tournament, he scored 10 points with seven wins and six draws.

Debashis became the third Odisha player to emerge champion in the National Challenger, which was earlier known as National B Championship. Among the other two Odia, Pabitra Mohan Mohanty achieved the feat twice in 1979 (Kanpur) and 1981 (Hyderabad) and Sekhar Chandra Sahu in 1990 (Chandigarh).

Among a total of 236 players the top 30 finishers including three from Odisha qualified for the National Premier Chess Championship, which is scheduled to be held at Kolkata from October 1 to 15. Other two Odisha players to qualify for the Premier National are IM Swayams Mishra and Air India IM Swayangsu Satyapragya with 8.5 points each. Mishra finished 16th, while Satyapragyan occupied the 18th position.

Among other Odisha players Sidhant Mohapatra (8), WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (8), Utkal Ranjan Sahoo (7) and Rabindra Kumar Ojha (6.5) finished 41st, 44th, 80th and 120th respectively.
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PHOTO: Debashis Das is crowned National Challenger chess champion at Tirupati on May 28, 2012.