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PANJIM: On the top board, IM Ethan Vaz (Salcete) (2347) drew with Kavish Gharse (Tiswadi) (1567) in the final round to emerge champion in the All Goa Blitz Chess Tournament 2024 with 8.5 points.
On the second board, IM Nitish Belurkar (Tiswadi) (2374) defeated Edrick Vaz to finish second with 8 points. Kavish Gharse finished third with 7.5 points. Supriyo Das (Delhi) (1770) managed to outwit Anar Shayakberov (Russia) in the final round to finish fourth with 7.5 points. Omkar Kadav (Maharashtra) (1812) got the better of Aarav Kamat (Salcete) to finish fifth with 7 points.
The following players won the prizes from 6th to 20th place: CM Niraj Saripalli, Joshua Telles, Tejas Shet Verenkar, Shubh Borkar, Devesh Naik, Edrick Vaz, Anar Shayakberov, Chaitanya Gaonkar, Yash Prabhu, Atharva Sawal, Gunjal Chopdekar, Saras Powar, Chaitanya Patil, Gaurava and Datta Kambli.
The category prize winners are as follows: U-15 Boys: 1st place: Aarav Kamat, 2nd place: Samuel Floriano Dcunha. Girls: 1st place: Aditi Atul Kamat, 2nd place: Avni Kamat.
U-13 Boys: 1st place: Avnish Borkar, 2nd place: Kanishk Sagar Sawant. Girls: 1st place: Riddhi Gaude, 2nd place: Israa Rikarty.
U-11 Boys: 1st place: Nathan Cardozo, 2nd place: Rhys Carvalho. Girls: 1st place: Muriel Fernandes, 2nd place: Skyla Rodrigues.
U-9 Boys: 1st place: Vihaan Tari, 2nd place: Shresth Suraj Ghonsekar. Girls: 1st place: Shinel Rodrigues, 2nd place: Tvisha Dessai.
U-7 Boys: 1st place: Prayank Gaonkar, 2nd place: Evan Telles. Girls: 1st place: Shaurvi Kankonkar, 2nd place: Aaradhya Dessai.
Veteran player (Above 50): 1st place: Kiran Chopdekar, 2nd place: Luis Colaco.
Women player (Above 15): 1st place: Arya Dabholkar, 2nd place: Sani Gawas.
The chief guest for the closing ceremony was Devyani Verlekar, owner of Shivganga Jewellers, Margao. Among the dignitaries present on the dais were Sunil Raikar, owner of Sona Jewellers; Damodar Zambulikar, vice-president, Goa Chess Association; Aryan Shamrao Raikar, tournament director; Anushka Naik, tournament organiser and Jostna Saripalli.
A total number of 150 players from across India and foreign nationals participated in the tournament organised by Aryan Chess Academy and Serial Chess Club, under the auspices of the Government College of Commerce and Economics, Salcete Taluka Chess Association and Goa Chess Association and was overseen by a dedicated arbiter team, consisting of International Arbiter (IA) Jostna Saripalli, National Arbiter (NA) Ridikesh Dilip Vernekar and National Arbiter (NA) Snehil Shetty.
