Dhaka, May 4 (bdnews24.com) – International Master Enamul Hossain Rajib earned on Sunday the third and final Grand Master (GM) norm beating GM Reefat Bin Sattar in the 13th and final round of the 34th National Chess Championship.
Rajib with white pieces took 41 moves to beat Reefat in the final game held at the Bangladesh Chess Federation auditorium.
Rajib earned his first GM norm in 2002 in the 35th Olympiad in Slovenia and the second norm came in the Master Chess Championship in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in 2007.
"I was confident of earning Grand Master's third norm this year and I had started the meet on the right note," Rajib told bdnews24.com by phone.
On way to the final norm, Rajib beat FM Minhazuddin Ahmed, Debaraj Chatterjee, Monir Hossain, FM Syed Mahfuzur, FM Abu Sufian, FM Abdul Malek, FM Sheikh Nasir Hossain and Sohel Chowdhury. He drew with FM Mohammad Javed and GM Ziaur Rahman before losing to GM Adullah Al Rakib, who also earned GM norm from the national championship last year.
The 27-year old said he had had a superb 2007 as he earned his second norm and qualified for the World Chess Championship last year.
A Bangladesh Chess Federation official said they would soon apply to the FIDE, the game's global governing body, for Rajib's Grand Master status.
The official also said the national championship saw two other players – Abu Sufian Shakil and Minhazuddin Sagor – earn their first norms for International Master, securing nine points each.
Razib will be the country's fifth Grand Master after Niaz Morshed (1987), Ziaur Rahman (2002), Reefat (2006), and Rakib (2007).
Rajib finished second in the tournament, securing 10 points from 12 games, one behind Zia who became champion with 11 points from 12 matches.
Zia beat Javed to become champion in the national championship for the 10th time.
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