PANJIM: Goa won silver medal in the team category of U-14 Chess Championship, at National School Games 2018 U-14 organised by Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs of Dadra and Nagar Haweli under the guidance of School Games Federation of India (SGFI), at Dadra and Nagar Haweli, recently.
The team consisted of Devesh Anand Naik, Reuben Colaco, Yash Upadhye, Jugan Rodrigues and Rishikesh Parab, who scored 10 points out of possible 12 match points.
Goa team played six rounds and won five. In the first round, they defeated Bihar 4-0 while in the second, they won against Haryana 3.5-0.5.
In the third, they won against Gujarat 2.5-1.5. However, they lost in the fourth against top seed Maharashtra 0.5-3.5. In the fifth, they came back strongly and defeated Andhra Pradesh 2.5-1.5 and in the last round they smashed Vidhya Bharati 3.0.
Reuben scored 5.5 points out of six and won third board prize silver medal.
The team was coached by SAG coach Sanjay Kavlekar, Manager Vanita Dessai. Goa team were seeded sixth but finished second among 27 other States.
Goa won their first medal in National School Games after a long gap of six years.
Director and Deputy Director of Goa Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs and Goa Chess Association President Power Minister Nilesh Cabral and Secretary Kishor Bandekar congratulated the team for their success.
