Shahil Dey on track to become North East India's first IM, scores his maiden IM norm

by Sagar Shah - 13/02/2021

Chess in North East India has been popular, but unfortunately until now we haven't seen a single titled player from the region. This drought quickly seems to be coming to an end as former under-7 and under-9 national champion Shahil Dey has now grown into a very strong player. The youngster from Assam scored his first IM norm at the Orbis GM Round Robin tournament held in Serbia from the 5th to the 11th of February 2021. In this article we acquaint you with Shahil's performance and also bring to you one of his games from the event - his win over the top seed GM Hans Niemann Moke.

Shahil Dey is one of North East India's brightest chess talents. It's great to see boy in action once again after a long period of lockdown. He played at the Orbis-1 GM Round Robin tournament in Paracin, Serbia from 5th to 11th of February. He beat several strong players including GM Hans Niemann (2525) and with a score of 5.5/9 achieved his 1st IM norm!

Shahil Dey, the 14-year-old youngster from Assam, India

With a performance rating of 2473, Shahil now has a Live Elo of 2400! The boy needs 2 more IM norms to become India's latest IM and north east India's first titled player. Shahil originally from Assam, now lives in Kolkata in order to receive better training facilities. He is coached by IM Roktim Bandyopadhyay. GM Jacob Aagaard, the founder of Killer Chess Training writes, "Shahil also won the 2020 student of the year award at www.killerchesstraining.com, having attended close to all live lessons (500+) and been first to finish the weekly homework most weeks."

Shahil with the tournament director Sasa Jevtic after winning the IM norm

The tournament scorecard for the youngster

Final rankings:

No.		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pts.	Rk.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2525	USA	*	0	1	1	½	0	½	1	1	1	6,0	2	0,0	3,0	22,75
2	CM	Shahil Dey	2376	IND	1	*	½	1	0	1	½	½	0	1	5,5	3	0,0	3,0	21,50
3	WIM	Injac Teodora	2314	SRB	0	½	*	1	½	½	½	½	0	0	3,5	8	0,0	2,5	15,25
4	CM	Mijatovic Dusan	2295	SRB	0	0	0	*	0	0	0	½	½	1	2,0	9	1,0	1,0	6,75
5	IM	Ratkovic Milovan	2433	SRB	½	1	½	1	*	1	½	1	½	½	6,5	1	0,0	4,5	27,75
6	FM	Dudin Gleb	2380	RUS	1	0	½	1	0	*	½	0	1	1	5,0	4	1,5	2,5	19,25
7	GM	Kosic Dragan	2443	MNE	½	½	½	1	½	½	*	½	½	½	5,0	5	1,0	3,0	21,00
8	GM	Atalik Suat	2504	SRB	0	½	½	½	0	1	½	*	½	1	4,5	7	0,0	2,5	17,50
9	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	2332	IND	0	1	1	½	½	0	½	½	*	1	5,0	6	0,5	2,5	20,00
10	FM	Vetokhin Savva	2309	RUS	0	0	1	0	½	0	½	0	0	*	2,0	10	0,0	1,0	9,25

In May 2020, Shahil won the Pursue your Chess Scholarship of Rs.50,000 instituted by the ChessBase India foundation from the amount donated by Ashwin Subramanian.

Speaking to ChessBase India Shahil says, "I played the tournament without any tension and it definitely helped me. I would like to thank Ashwin sir and ChessBase India Foundation for the scholarship and for motivating me towards my goal."

The youngster is 14 years old and is a big talent. He has enrolled himself in the second IM norm tournament Orbis-2 that begins in Paracin, Serbia from today. Wishing him the best for the event

Annotated victory over GM Hans Niemann

Previous coverage of Shahil Dey on ChessBase India

The little prince from North East - Interview by 13-year-old Avathanshu Bhat

Shahil Dey's interview after he beat WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty

Story of Shahil Dey

Related news:

	The star from Assam, Shahil Dey scores his first GM norm @ 16/06/2022 by Himank Ghosh (en)
	Assam's Shahil Dey becomes the first International Master of North-East India @ 18/06/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Shahil Dey scores his second IM-norm in consecutive tournaments @ 20/02/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en)