PANJIM: Evan Antonio Telles (1431) of Salcete outwitted Joash Cardozo in the final round and defeated top seed Prayank Gaonkar(1491) (Salcete) in the penultimate round to emerge as the U-7 State Chess Champion in the Open Category by staying unbeaten throughout the tournament organised by Salcete Taluka Chess Association in association with Government College of Commerce and Economics, Margao, under the aegis of Goa Chess Association, in the premises of Government College of Commerce and Economics, recently.
Prayank Gaonkar outplayed Vivaan Rane in the final round to finish second in the tournament with five points. Aarav Naik (Ponda) outsmarted Ansh Gawas to stand third, while Joash Cardozo (Salcete) clinched the fourth place.
Ansh Gawas (Mormugoa) stood fifth whilst Aarav Nagueshkar (Mormugoa) outplayed Tansh Gaude from the black side to take the sixth place.
In the girls category, Sidonia Dacunha (Tiswadi) outsmarted Raghavi Haldankar (Bardez) in the final round and Aaradhya Dessai (Mormugoa) in the penultimate round to emerge as the U-7 State Champion in the girls Category by staying unbeaten throughout the tournament.
Aaradhya Dessai (Mormugoa) defeated Amaira Borkar (Ponda) in the final round to finish second in the tournament. Shivanya Rao (Salcete) outsmarted Trisha Patekar (Pernem) in the final round to stand third and fourth respectively. Raghavi Haldankar (Bardez) took the fifth position, whilst Shreesha Ghadi took the sixth position.
Other results: Best Salcete – 1st place Vivaan Rane. Best Salcete – 2nd Narayan Alias Aarav Prabhu Dessai. Best Salcete (girls) – 1st Aria Fernandes. Best Salcete (girls) – 2nd Aarna Joshi.
The tournament has drawn 29 players in the Open Category and 17 players in the Girls Category from across the State. The top two players are selected to represent Goa in the U-7 National to be played in Bangalore, Karnataka.
Government College of Commerce and Economics Principal Dr F M Nadaf was the chief guest, while Assistant Director of Department of IT, Electronics and Communications, Government of Goa, Pradeep Gaonkar was the guest of honour for the closing ceremony.
The other dignitaries present were Goa Chess Association Secretary Ashesh Keni, Goa Chess Association Vice-President (South) Damodar Zambaulikar, Vice-President (North) Satyavan Harmalkar and Salcete Taluka Chess Association Treasurer Dilip Vernekar.
