PANJIM: IM Swapnil Dhopade (2458) of Railways emerged the winner with 10 points at the 53rd National Chess Championship held in Nagpur, Maharashtra, recently.
Dempo goodwill ambassador IM Anurag Mhamal could not recover from the setback in the ninth round where he lost due to a blunder in the opening.
In the last round, Anurag lost to Karthik V (2256) to remain on 7.5 points. The upcoming player and Geno pharmaceuticals brand ambassador CM Nitish Belurkar finished as the highest Goan player with eight points.
In the last round, Nitish scripted a fine victory over Varun V (2171) of Telangana. Ameya Audi defeated Om Vinay Vitalkar (1803) of Maharashtra to finish on seven points. CM Leon Mendonca defeated Valsan Kanavath (1674) of OFSPB to finish on 5.5 points while Anant Prabhudesai lost the last round to Eesha Sarda (1450) of Maharashtra to remain on five points.
