Cuttack clinched a double crown as Biswa Preet Ray and Jyotika Sahoo won the open and girls titles respectively in the in the Odisha State Sub-Junior (U-15) Chess Championship, which was held at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack from 8 to 11 June 2025.

The battle for the open title ended in a tie as four players secured seven points each out of a possible eight. However, Biswa Preet emerged champion on the basis of better tie-break score, while his Cuttack district-mate Lalit Ranjan Sahu finished runner-up.

Jyotika emerged undisputed champion in girls category, garnering 7.5 points from eight rounds, while Shradha Smaranika Nanda, also from Cuttack, settled as runner-up with seven points. The top two finishers qualified to represent Odisha in the National Sub-Junior (U15) Chess Championship, which is scheduled to be held in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh from 2 to 10 November 2025.

A total of 259 players (187 in open and 72 in girls categories) from 20 districts participated in the State championship, which was organised by Triple-C Chess Club, under the aegis of All Odisha Chess Association (AOCA), and supported by Department of Sports & Youth Services (DSYS), Govt of Odisha. The championships offered a total prize fund of Rs 55,550 for top-10 finishers of both open and girls categories.

Social worker Lalatendu Badu was the chief guest of the prize distribution ceremony. Cuttack District Sports Officer Ajay Kumar Behera, AOCA president Satya Ranjan Pattnaik, chief arbiter Suresh Chandra Sahoo, deputy chief arbiter Tapas Kumar Mohanty and arbiter Santosh Kumar Mohapatra were present on the occasion.

Earlier, the championship was inaugurated by DSYS Additional Secretary Bijaya Kumar Swain, in the presence of AOCA secretary Debabrata Bhatta, Pro-Chess-Ta Administrator IM Swayangsu Satyapragyan, Triple-C Chess Club president Biswajit Ray and secretary Biranchi Narayan Sahoo.
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PHOTO: Top three finishers in open and girls categories (L-R), Sattwik Swain (Third place), Lalit Ranjan Sahu (Runner-up), Biswa Preet Ray (Champion), Jyotika Sahoo (Champion), Shradha Smaranika Nanda (Runner-up) and Pritisha Mitra (Third place) pose with guests and tournament officials in Cuttack on 11 June 2025.