Sambit Panda, the new rising chess star of Odisha, achieved a major success of his career by becoming the 9th International Master (IM) of the State and latest of the country, crossing the 2400 rating-points mark in the Master category of the Torino International Open Chess Tournament in Torino, Italy on 12 December 2022.

The 2400 rating points was one of the two requirements Sambit fulfilled to become an International Master. He gained 21.4 points in the in the Torino International Open where he finished fourth with six points from nine rounds. His current rating is now 2405.4 points.

Sambit had already met other requirement for the IM title by securing three mandatory IM norms and that too within a year (2022). The 18-year-old Bhubaneswar player achieved his first IM norm at the 58th Senior National Championship in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh in February and the second norm at the 22nd Dubai Open International Tournamnet in Dubai in September.

Sambit secured his third and final IM norm at the Asian Continental Championship last month in New Delhi. Accompanied by his mother Bijay Laxmi Panda, Sambit is set to play more tournaments in Europe before returning home in January 2023.

A 12th passout of DAV Public School, Unit-8, Bhubaneswar, Sambit has been playing competitive chess since 2011. He also won the National U-7 title the same in Pune, Maharashtra.

Raj Santosh Panda was the first coach of Sambit, who now takes coaching from Odisha IM Swayangsu Satyapragyan and Tamil Nadu GM Sundararajan Kidambi. According IM Satyapragyan, Sambit has the talent to become a Grand Master.

Speaking on getting the IM title, Sambit expressed his gratituted towards his parents coaches, All Odisha Chess Association and the State Government for their encouragement, guidance and support.

LIST OF ODISHA INTERNATIONAL MASTERS: 1. Sekhar Chandra Sahu, 2. Swayangsu Satyapragyan, 3. Debashis Das (Now GM), 4. Anwesh Upadhyaya, 5. Swayams Mishra (Now GM), 6. Sidhant Mohapatra, 7. Padmini Rout, 8. Rakesh Kumar Jena, 9. Sambit Panda.