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The 2008 World U-12 Gold medallist has been playing at GM strength for over six years. However, the 2500 rating kept eluding him despite getting close to it several times. The final obstacle was overcome in fantastic style as he won the 6th Cannes Chess Open and took his live rating to 2504.
We will have a detailed interview of Sayantan to know his journey, once he is back home.
Fun fact: All three GMs India got this year have won their tournaments when they became a GM by crossing 2500 in the live ratings.
Sayantan Das gained the sole lead with 6½/8 points heading into the final round. He was paired against the European 2014 champion and the coach of former world championship challenger Sergey Karjakin, Alexander Motylev.
Sayantan defended for the better part of the game against Motylev. He kept fighting, and eventually his opponent made an incorrect break in the major piece endgame: 35.c4 dxc4 36.Rb4 Qd5 37.Qe7+ Kb8 38.Qe5+ Qxe5 39.dxe5
The queens have left the board and Black is now winning. There followed 39...e3 40.e6 e2 41.Rb1 fxe6 and Motylev resigned.
Master Class Vol. 12: Viswanathan Anand
This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors how to successfully organise your games strategically, and how to keep your opponent permanently under pressure.
Sayantan also scored a fifth GM-norm with his performance — not that he needed it!
A total of 124 players, including 12 GMs, 27 IMs and 6 WIMs took part in the Open A (>2100) section of the Cannes Open. The seven-day nine-round Swiss tournament was organized by Romuald De Labaca at Palais des Festivals de Cannes, France on February 20-26.
The time control of the tournament was 40 moves in 90 minutes, followed by 30 minutes with 30 seconds increment from move 1.
The tournament hall at Palais des Festivals de Cannes | Photo: Cannes Echecs
