PANJIM: Anish Naik secured 7.5 out of 8 points to emerge champion in the Ponda Taluka level Open Rapid Chess tournament organised by Ponda Friends Circle in association with Ponda Taluka Chess Association (PTCA), at Nakteshwar hall, Ponda, recently.
Paras Popkar and Sathvik Kerkar bagged the second and third places respectively.
Wilson Cruz was the Chief Arbiter and 130 players participated.
Vignesh Sawant, Nidhi Gaude, Raghvendra Gupta, Pushti Bhonsle, Atharv Shirodkar, Sumukha Shetty and Mayank Kurtikar secured fourth to tenth place respectively.
Best U-13 – First place Avnish Borker, second place Swayam Naik. Best U-11 -First place Chinmay Gaude, second place Aarya Kamat Helekar. Best U-9 – First place Sarthak Naik, second place Avani Sawaikar. Best U-7 – First placeGaurish Naik, second place Tansh Gaude.
Chief guest Vishwanath Dalvi (ex-chairperson, Ponda Muncipal Council), Sagar Sakordekar (president, PTCA), Wilson Cruz (Chief Arbiter), Sandesh Naik (joint secretary, PTCA), PTCA Executive Member Anand Kurtikar, Govind Desai (president, Ponda Friends Circle), Jitendra Naik, Sadashiv Pandit, Ajay Vernekar, Vishnu Naik, Mahadev Hallemani, Narayan Bhamikar, Rajan Kolvekar, Dilip Mangaonkar, Muzib Mulla and Mahesh Mangeshkar distributed certificates and trophies.
