Eight and a half years old Riya Sawant, who is a 2nd standard student of St.
Mary's High School, Mapusa created history by becoming the youngest ever
Subjunior Girls Champion in the Goa State Subjunior Chess Championship which
concluded at the Sarvodaya High School, Curchorem today.
Riya, who is a student of V. Sivaswamy and a product of the Bambolim Chess
Club, finished the tourney with a maximum of 5 possible points by winning
her fifth round game against Sukanya Chari. The second and third places went
to the top seeds Celiane Carvalho and Nandini Saripalli who finished with 4
points each and identical progressive scores. Celiane was adjudged third by
virtue of a coin toss. The fourth place went to unrated Sukanya Chari who
edged out Sonali Kerkar on a higher progressive score although both finished
with an level score of 3.5 points.
In the Boys section, top seed Anurag Mhamal drew both his last two games
with Niraj Saripalli and Umang Kaisary. Nevertheless, he still finished
first with 6 points and completed a creditable hattrick of victories in the
same category. Second place went to Cyrus Perreira, the Asian Schools Under
11 Gold Medallist, who finished with 5 and a half points. Mohanan
Harikrishnan, Niraj Saripalli and Umang Kaisary finished in fourth to sixth
places in that order.
Mrs. Jostna Saripalli and SAG coach Avinash Malvankar were the Chief
Arbiters for the event organised by the Mir Sultan Khan Chess Academy. The
prize money of Rs. 25,000/- was sponsored by Shreeji Sales Corporation. The
Chief Guest for the prize distribution ceremony was Dr. Peter Carvalho, the
founder of Cortalim Chess Club.
Last round results with the points tally in brackets -
Girls
Sukanya Chari (3.5 pts) lost to Riya Sawant (5 pts)
Celiane Carvalho (4 pts) beat Urvi Bandekar (3 pts)
Sampada Barve (3 pts) lost to Nandini Saripalli (4 pts)
Vidula Dempo (3 pts) beat Gauri Hadkonkar (2.5 pts)
Sonali Kerkar (3.5 pts) beat Dipashree Malvankar (2 pts)
Boys
Anurag Mhamal (6 pts) drew with Umang Kaisary (5 pts)
M. Harikrishnan (5.5 pts) drew with Cyrus Perreira (5.5 pts)
Rakshit Rai (4.5 pts) drew with Niraj Saripalli (5 pts)
Amod Kolwalkar (5 pts) beat Yeshitesh Shirodkar (4 pts)
Snehil Shetty (4 pts) lost to Anirudh bhat (5 pts)
SOURCE: Sameer Salgaocar - Vice President, All-India Chess Federation
