Indian IM Sankalp Gupta became the unbeaten champion in the Joytu Sheikh Hasina International Grand Masters Chess Tournament held 19-27 September 2021 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A total of 62 players including Grandmasters, International Masters and International Women’s Masters from different countries including Bangladesh participated in the 9-day 9-round Swiss-League competition.
The Prize-Distribution and closing ceremony of the Joytu Sheikh Hasina International Grandmasters Chess Tournament 2021, sponsored by the Canadian University of Bangladesh and organised by the Bangladesh Chess Federation. The event marked the occasion of the 75th birth anniversary of Honorable Prime Minister of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, MP. It was held at the Hotel Sheraton Dhaka.
Mr. Hasan Mahmud, MP Hon’ble Information Minister of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was present as the chief guest and distributed prizes among the winners.
Mr. Md. Zahid Ahsan Russel, MP, State Minister for Youth and Sports of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was present as the special guest.
Dr. Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian University of Bangladesh presided over the ceremony.
Mr. Tarafdar Md. Ruhul Amin, Managing Director of Saif Powertech Limited and Vice President of Bangladesh Chess Federation, Mr. Syed Shahab Uddin Shamim, General Secretary of Bangladesh Chess Federation and President FIDE Zone-3.2, Dr. Shoeb Riaz Alam, Additional DIG and Joint Secretary of Bangladesh Chess Federation and Mr. Mainuddin Moneem, Managing Director of the Abdul Monem Group gave speeches in the ceremony.
Mr. Md Musaraf Husain Molla, Additional Secretary of Youth & Sports Ministry, Mr. KM Shahidullah, Vice President of Bangladesh Chess Federation and Masudur Rahman Mallick Dipu, Joint Secretary of Bangladesh Chess Federation were present on the stage.
Champion IM Sankalp earned 7 points to clinch the title. Five players scored six and a half points each. In the tie-breaking system among them, India’s IM Mitrava Guha became runner-up, India’s IM Aronyak Ghosh became third, India’s IM Sayantan Das became 4th fourth, Bangladesh’s GM Ziaur Rahman became fifth and Iran’s GM Mosadeghpour Masoud became sixth. Indian IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh became 7th, IM Neelash Saha became 8th and GM Vadim Malakhatko of Belgium became 9th with 6 points each.
For the special prizes of Bangladeshi players: GM Enamul Hossain Razib came first with five and a half points, FM Sheikh Nasir Ahmed came second with five points, FM Debaraj Chatterjee became third IM Abu Sufian Shakil came fourth and FM Md Taibur Rahman became fifth with with four and a half points each. The ninth or final round match was held today (Monday) at Hotel 71’s Aamrakanan.
In the last round: IM Sankalp drew with Aronyk, GM Masoud beat Mitrabha, IM Neelash drew with IM Nubairshah, IM Sayantan beat IM Srijit, GM Zia beat Sanket Chakravarty, GM Vadim Malakhatko of Belgium beat Sourath Biswas of India, GM Razib drew with Kaustav Chatterjee of India, Subhayan Kundu drew with IM Asyl Abdyjapar of Kyrgyzstan, GM Kislinsky Alexey of Chez Republic drew with GM Andrey Sumets of Ukraine, GM Ghaem Ehsan Maghami of Iran beat FM Md Taibur Rahman, GM Deep Sengupta of India beat IM Mohammad Fahad Rahman, IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete of India beat WIM Arpita Mukharjee , GM Alexander Zubarev of Ukraine beat FM Piyumantha Sasith Nipun of Sri Lanka, CM Liyanage Ranindu Dilshan of Sri Lanka beat Mahmood Lodhi of Pakistam, FM Nasir beat FM Subrota Biswas, IM Shakil drew with CM Manon Reja Neer and CM Tahsin Tajwar Zia drew with CM Md. Jamal Uddin.
The winners were awarded fifteen thousand us dollars. champion Sankalp receiving four thousand us dollars, runner-up Mitrabha received two thousand five hundred us dollars, third Aronyak Ghosh received fifteen hundred us dollars, 4th to 8th places Sayantan, Zia, Masood, Nabirshah and Neelash received one thousand us dollars each. Among the Bangladeshi players, Rajib received a special prize of seven hundred US dollars, Nasir five hundred us dollars, Debaraj four hundred dollars, Shakil and Taibur received two hundred US dollars.
Media Committee
Bangladesh Chess Federation