PANJIM: Goan chess players Ethan Vaz, Reuben Colaco, Paarth Salvi and Abhir Prabhu made a mark while representing Goa State at the MPL 46th National Sub-Junior (Under-16) Chess Championships 2022, organised by Delhi Chess Association under the aegis of All India Chess Federation (AICF), at Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, New Delhi, recently.
Participating in his first FIDE Rated tournament in over two years, after the pandemic put a stop to over-the-board tournaments, 10-year-old AIM Ethan Vaz, displayed exemplary chess to secure Joint second place and finish fifth on tie-break.
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Pitted against 8 higher rated opponents in the 9 round tournament, including three titled players (2 Candidate Masters, and 1 FIDE Master), Ethan (Elo 1384) scored an impressive 7 points with a Performance Rating of 2038, losing only to eventual bronze medallist FM Harshad S (Elo 2328) of Tamil Nadu and drawing against CM Mayank Chakraborty (Elo 2164) of Assam and Krishnan Ritvik (Elo 1761) of Maharashtra. Ethan’s biggest win came against CM Aaditya Dhingra (Elo 2176) of Haryana. Owing to his stellar performance, Ethan’s FIDE rating increased by a mammoth 208 Elo points, the highest amongst the 180 players who represented their States at the prestigious tournament.
Reuben Colaco also played commendable chess, scoring 6.5 points and finishing in the 11th place in the final rankings and adding a massive 127 Elo points to his FIDE Rating. In the third round, Reuben (Elo 1627) caused the upset of CM Mrithyunjay Mahadevan (Elo 1993) of TN and lost only to FM Harshad S (Elo 2328) of TN and Bagwe Gaurang (Elo 1874) of Maharashtra, while drawing to Ankit Ray (Elo 1895) of West Bengal.
Paarth P Salvi (Elo 1635) too displayed strong chess skills, securing the Joint 16th place and finishing 25th on tie-break, narrowly missing a spot in the Top 20 Prize List owing to a slightly lower Buchholz score. Paarth had a brilliant start to the tournament, and held the eventual bronze medallist FM Harshad S (Elo 2328) to a noteworthy draw in the third round. A couple of losses in later rounds, and an untimely draw in the second last round unfortunately meant that Goa couldn’t see a third player in the Top 20.
Nine-year old Abhir Prabhu (Elo 1165) playing his first National tournament, scored a creditable 4 points, and made the best of the opportunity by carving out draws against two higher rated opponents (Elo 1356 and 1380), besides another two wins and two draws, losing only to three higher rated opponents.
IM Pranesh M (Elo 2455) of TN won the championship with 7.5 points, while 10 players including Goa’s Ethan tied for the second place with 7 points a piece. IM Pranav V (Elo 2493) of TN and FM Harshad S (Elo 2328) of TN emerged 1st and 2nd runner up respectively.
