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VASCO: Datta Kambli remained unbeaten securing five points from five rounds to win the Mormugao Taluka Chess Association first post COVID offline chess tournament, organised under the ages of Goa Chess Association and RCC Vasco, at Tilak Maidan, Vasco, recently.
Anirudh Parsekar finished third after losing the final game against Datta. Utkarsh Ganpule defeated Rohit Gawas in the final round to score four points to settle on runners-up place. Bhimappa Harijan finished fourth while Vaskar Rajat finished fifth after having less tie-break score despite having collected four points.
The tournament was played under Swiss-league system with 5 rounds. Top seed Anirudh Parsekar and 2nd seed Datta Kambli took sole lead after the 4th round and hence clashed in the final round.
Total 30 players were invited on the bases of their International rating strength and playing experience. 15 players were rated out of 30 participants.
Category prizes: Best U-15: Bhargav Habbu, U-13: Asmita Ray, U-11: Aniket Ekka, U-9: Aarush Salgaonkar, Valanka Fernandes was felicitated for winning the girls U-11 online state Championship 2020.
Kishor Bandekar, President (MTCA) and also GCA secretary, in his speech mentioned that due to pandemic during year 2020 they had to conduct tournaments online but now chess is back on the board offline and players need to gear up with full energy and enthusiasm like before for upcoming events.
All the necessary precautions were observed, players wore mask, used sanitizer,no hand shake and maintained distance.
Bandekar gave away the prizes in the presence of Mukund Kambli (Secretary MTCA), Anil Patil (executive member MTCA), Ratikant Hoble (Prop. HCA), Prashant Raikar (Member MTCA) and Swapnil Hoble(Chief arbiter) .
