PANJIM: Goa State champion Rohan Ahuja of Sharda Mandir High School, Mira Mar added yet another feather to the cap as he clinched the top honours at the all-India FIDE rated rapid chess championship, organized by Mushtifund Sports Academy in association with Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias under the aegis of Tiswadi Taluka Chess Association (TTCA) and Goa Chess Association (GCA), at Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias, Mira Mar, recently.
Rohan drew with Srinath Rao SV (2098) of Chhattisgarh in the final round to score eight points and also defeated IM Anurag Mhamal (2297) in a tense battle in the seventh round and later defeated Rrakesh Kulkarni (2265) in the eight round.
Rohan remained undefeated in the tournament with seven wins and two draws.
Dempo goodwill brand ambassador, IM Anurag Mhamald efeated IM Himanshu Sharma (2445) and IM Sameer Kathmale (2211) in the final two rounds also scored eight points but was placed second on Bucholz tie-break score.
IM Akshat Khamparia (2413) of Madhya Pradesh scored 7.5 points and was placed third. Srinath Rao SV (2098) of Chattisgarh also scored 7.5 points and was placed fourth.
IM Himanshu Sharma won the fifth spot with seven points, followed by IM Sameer Kathmale, Rakesh Kulkarni also with seven points each to claim the sixth and seventh positions respectibvely.
Geno Pharmaceuticals brand ambassador CM Nitish Belurkar settled for the eighth place, Chinmay Kulkarni the ninth place and Audi Ameya the 10th spot.
The special category prizes are as follows. Best U-7 1st Ruturaj Yogesh Desai, 2nd Pratik S Borkar; Best U-9 1st Alaya Vella D’Cruz, 2nd Mendonca Leon Luke; Best U-11 1st Fadte Rudresh, 2nd Madhavan G; Best U-15 1st Saish Fondekar, 2nd Datta Kambli; Best U-13 1st Prabhugaonkar Aditee Aman, 2nd Soham Naik; Best Unrated 1st Harnoor Singh, 2nd Mayank Pal; Best Goan Player 1st M Barath, 2nd Anant Prabhudessai; Best Female Player above 18 years Jyoti Soni from Rajasthan; Best Veteran Player Sumant Kumar Koyande; Best Mushtifund Sports Academy Player 1st Krishna Gaonkar, 2nd Prithvi Chodankar and 3rd Swapnil Manerkar.
Chief Guest and President of Mushtifund Saunstha Anil Counto gave away the prizes ion the presence of Vice-president of Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias Sunil Naik; Chief Arbiter Promoidraj Moree.
Tournament co-ordinator Sanjay Kaisare proposed the vote of thanks. The arbiters for the tournament were Sanjay Kavlekar and Swapnil Hoble while Gautam Rohidas Tari was the tournament director.
