KOLKATA: It was double delight for Diptayan Ghosh as the Grandmaster claimed his maiden national rapid and blitz championships that concluded in Nashik on Thursday. Ghosh topped both the sections half-a-point ahead of his rivals. He stayed unbeaten in the three-day rapid category finishing with nine points from 11 rounds, but lost one round in the blitz section to emerge on top with 9.5 points in the 11-round one-day competition.
The Kolkata boy was happy to bag national titles after more than a decade as he had last won the U-13 open category in 2010. He also managed to improve upon his runner-up show at the national rapid meet in 2015.
"I always enjoy rapid and blitz and play a lot online which helped me a lot here," Ghosh, who found more satisfaction in winning the rapid meet, told TOI from Nashik on Thursday.
It was a bumpy ride for Ghosh as he missed the game after taking up a job with a private bank in Mumbai.
"For two years (2021-23), I played very irregularly as getting leave to participate in tournaments was an issue," Ghosh said. At last he decided to quit his job in January 2023 and luckily got an opening with the Eastern Railway in December that year. "My new employee has been very supportive and now I am getting a chance to play more," the 25-year-old stated.
His fellow Railway colleague Aronyak Ghosh, who held Ghosh in round six, came second with 8.5 points. However, top seed Mitrabha Guha failed to finish in the top half ending with 7.5 points.
In the blitz section, Ghosh suffered his only loss going down to Anto Cristiano Manish in the fourth round. But he made a great comeback winning the next four rounds. He managed to get the better of Commonwealth Games gold medallist Guha in the last round to claim the title.
The win is likely to see the former Asian Youth Chess Championships gold medal winner in U-10 and U-12 sections represent India in the next World Rapid and Blitz meet. "It would be huge if I get to play the Worlds. It would be dream-come-true for me to see, if not play, Magnus Carlsen and all the leading chess players of the world," Ghosh stated.
