Team Herald
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PANJIM: Prayank Gaonkar (1491) of Goa won the silver medal by winning his last round against Kavin Velavan (1498) of Tamil Nadu at the 37th U-7 National Chess Championship organised by Karnatak Chess Association on behalf of All India Chess Federation at Mysore.
Devanarayanan, Kalliyath of Kerala took the gold with an all win record whilst Aaradhyo, Guin of West Bengal stood third with 7.5 points.
14th Prayank, who had stood second at the Goa selection behind Evan Telles showed his mettle lost the second round but went on to win all the other rounds to be second. In the seventh round, he defeated Agaarth Mishra (1420) of Uttar Pradesh and Ayansh Singh (1644) of Uttar Pradesh. He gained 65 ELO points during the tournament.
Prayank is the son of Pradip and Priyanka and a student of Class I at Manovikas English Medium School, Margao.
Goa Chess Association President Mahesh Candolkar, Secretary Ashesh Keni and other office bearers congratulated Prayank on his maiden victory at the Nationals.
Other results: 6-year-old Evan Telles of Goa stood 71st with 5 points.
In the U-7 Girls Nationals, Aaranya R of Tamil Nadu won with 8 points out of 9 rounds. Shivanya Rao was placed 27th. Aaradhya Desai was placed 68th with 5 points. Sidonia Da Cunha was placed 105th with 3.5 points.
