- Maharashtra State School Chess Championship
- The square will be divided into six groups; 60 thousand in prizes
- A colorful match in the under-17 group as well
Chess Championship: The school chess players of the state are ready with the dream of representing Maharashtra in the National School Chess Championship. The second phase of the SBI Life Maharashtra State School Chess Championship will begin from Friday, November 13 at Rustamji Cambridge International School, Dahisar (West). As many as 387 players are participating in this three-day competition, and tough fights will be seen in all the six groups to get a place in the national competition.
Organized by the Indian Chess School, matches will be played in six fide rated groups under 9, 13 and 17 years of age for boys and girls. The top two players in each group will get an opportunity to represent Maharashtra in the National School Chess Championship to be held in Ahmedabad.
In the second phase, 110 players will be participating in Under 9 Open Group, 56 in Girls Group, 123 in Under 13 Open Group, 45 in Girls Group, 38 in Under 17 Open Group and 15 in Girls Group. The total number of players in both the stages of the tournament has reached 804. The first phase was held from November 4 to 6, in which 417 players participated.
Adhwan, Gargi top seed in Under-9 category
Adwan Oswal (1724) has been seeded first in the under-9 open category. Ishan Agnihotri (1618) and Nihansh Khode (1572) are the second and third ranked players respectively. Arav Zawar (1571) and Ivan Dubey (1545), who won the Under-7 Open category in the first stage, are also expected to face a tough fight.
Gargi Harkare (1568) of Nagpur has been given first rank in the category of girls under 9 years. Her main rivals will be Liya Krishnan (1558) and Didithi Banerjee (1553). Special attention will also be on Liya Krishnan, who won the under-7 girls category title in the first phase. Ishi Singh (1538) and Mirai Sardana (1533) will further increase the number of Churas in this group.
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Expectations from Nirvana, Twesha in the under-13 group
Maximum 123 players will participate in the under-13 open group. Nirvana Shah (1956) is the frontrunner, with Om Ramgude (1906) and Vihan Rao (1826) as his main rivals.
Tvesha Jain (1697) has been seeded first in the girls' under-13 category. Ihina Iyer (1566), Nishka Aggarwal (1562) and Tisya Bhatt (1524) will challenge her. Twesha, who won the Under-11 girls category title in the first phase, is expected to put up another strong performance.
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A colorful contest in the under-17 group as well
Arya Bagayatkar (1742) has been seeded first in the under-17 open category. His main rivals would be Yuvraj Singh (1690), Soham Sehmate (1667) and Daivik Mehta (1642).
Drishya Naik (1713) is the highest ranked player in the girls' under-17 category. Himanshi Tendulkar (1530), Iksha Soni (1528) and Trisha Jagtap (1527) are also expected to do well.
60 thousand in prizes; Aim for National Competition
The National School Chess Championship will be held in Ahmedabad from 16 to 20 December 2026. The top two players from all the six groups in the state level tournament will be selected to represent Maharashtra. Therefore, every innings will be important to get the ticket for the national tournament along with the title.
A total cash prize of 60 thousand rupees has been kept for the competition. Prizes of 10 thousand rupees will be given for each group. The top three ranked players in each group will be awarded the SBI Life Cup, while the fourth to tenth ranked players will be awarded with medals.
The chief referee of this seven-round tournament was International Umpire P. B. It will be under the supervision of Bhilare. The tournament has SBI Life as the main sponsor and Rustamji Cambridge International School as the venue partner.