PANJIM: Rishikesh Parab (1468) of Mormugoa defeated Wilson Cruz (1554) of Ponda in the final round to clinch the Unity Club all-Goa open Rapid Chess Tournament 2023, held recently. In the penultimate round, Rishikesh defeated IM Ritviz Parab (2154) of Salcete. Rishikesh took home Rs 10,000 besides a trophy.
IM Ritviz Parab had to be content with the 2nd prize of Rs 7,000 and trophy while the 3rd prize went to Devesh Anand Naik (1741) of Ponda who defeated Dmitry Bezstrakhov of Russia in the last round and Anish Naik (1415) in the penultimate round. He won a cash prize of Rs 5,000 and trophy. Reuben Colaco of Salcete stood 4th also with 7.5 points after he drew with IM Ritviz Parab in the final round and beat Dmitry Bezstrakhov in the penultimate round. Wilson Cruz stood 5th after he lost to the champion Rishikesh Parab in the final round.
The 6th to 20th position were taken by Nikam Ravindra (Kolhapur), Shriya Patil (Salcete), Aryan Raikar (Salcete), Tejas Shet Verekar (Salcete), Jennica Sequeira (Salcete), Chaitanya Gaonkar (Bicholim), Dmitry Bezstrakhov (Russia), Mayuresh Desai (Sattari), Aaryavrat Naik Desai (Canacona), Joshua Telles (Salcete), Srilaxmi Kamat (Ponda), Kavish Borkar (Salcete), Saiesh Audi (Salcete), Aarvi Naik (Mormugoa), and Rishit Gawas (Mormugoa).
In the age group category
U-15 boys: 1st prize went to Sahil Prasad Naik and 2nd to Chirag Kankonkar. U-15 girls: 1st prize went to Valanka Fernandes and 2nd to Sani Gawas.U-13 boys: 1st prize went to Vedant Angle and 2nd to J A Simplicio Viegas. U-13 girls: 1st prize went to Saeeja Dessai and 2nd to Israa Rikarty. U-11 boys: 1st prize went to Naksh Arsekar and 2nd to Daksh Redkar. U-11 girls: 1st prize went to Asmi Terse and 2nd to Navya Narvekar. U-9 boys: 1st prize went to Shourya Prabhu Agrasani and 2nd to Aryan Naik. U-9 girls: 1st prize went to Skyla Rodrigues and 2nd to Diya Naik. U-7 boys: 1st prize went to Prayank Gaonkar and 2nd to Evan Telles. U-7 girls: 1st prize went to Shanaya Desai and 2nd to Shivanya Rao.
Salcete Age Group Category winners: U-15 boys: Earl Dcosta; U-15 girls: Alysa Coutinho; U-13 boys: Vibhav Kerkar; U-13 girls: Manha Rikarti; U-11 boys: Satyam Phal; U-11 girls: Kaya Coutinho; U-9 boys: Shivansh Kamat; U-9 girls: Shinel Rodrigues; U-7 boys: Narayan Prabhu Desai.
The best veteran went to Kiran Chopdekar while the best women (above 15 years) went to Saini Naik.
The tournament has drawn 145 players from all over the state out of which 73 are rated players.