- Liya, Kaushik, Twesha, Samvid also won the title
- A chance for the top two to compete in the national competition
- Huge response to the competition
Chess Tournament: The first phase of the SBI Life Maharashtra State School Chess Championship saw six new winners in six groups. Ivan Dubey, Liya Krishnan, Kaushik Ajinkya Raite, Tvesha Ashish Jain, Samvid Pasbola and Khanak Paharia won the titles in their respective categories. In this, Ivan Dubey won all the seven rounds and earned one hundred percent of seven points. This was the most impressive performance in the tournament.
The seven-round FIDE-rated tournament was held at Rustamji Cambridge International School, Dahisar (West) under the auspices of the Indian Chess School. As many as 417 athletes participated in six groups such as open and girls under seven, eleven and fifteen years. The title race and the tiebreak calculations that went on until the final round made the competition very interesting.
Evan Dubey's run of victory in all seven innings
In the under-seven open category, top seed Ivan Dubey won all seven innings to claim the undisputed title. Evan of Brainiacs International School topped the list with seven points. Yuvansh Nimja of Global Indian International School was second with six points, while Advik Verma of Vibgyor High School, Kharghar was third on tie-break with six points.
In the girls category of the same age group, top seed Liya Krishnan of Kanakia International School emerged as the winner with six points. Eleanor D'Souza and Neerja Jadhav of Viti International School bagged the second and third positions, scoring five and a half points each.
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Kaushik and Twesha compete in the Under-11 category
Kaushik Ajinkya Raite of SNBP International School, Rahatni bagged the title with six and a half points in the under-11 open category. Agastya N. of CNM Mumbai. Cassatt and Veeren Rohit Boricha of Matrix Academy School secured second and third position with six points each.
In the girls category, Twesha Ashish Jain, the topper of Greenlawns High School, also bagged the title with six and a half points. Ashvi Ankit Aggarwal of Gundecha Education Academy was the runner-up with six marks, while R. N. Sanamri John Paul of Podar School secured the third position with five points.
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Samvid and Khanak's winning streak in the under-15 category
In the under-15 open category, top seed Samvid Pasbola of Hiranandani Foundation International School bagged the title with six points. AFM Ryan Merchant of CNM School, Vileparle and AFM Taseen Rafiq Tadvi of St. Teresa's Convent High School secured the second and third position respectively with five and a half points each.
Khanak Paharia of Narayana E-Techno School, Andheri emerged the winner with six points in the girls' category. Mahua Vignesh Deshpande of CNM School came second with five and a half marks, while Dr. Pranitha Bhava of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Vidyalaya stood third with five points.
Opportunity for top athletes to compete in national competitions
The result of this competition is of special importance. According to the rules of the Maharashtra Chess Association, the top two ranked players from all the six groups will get an opportunity to represent Maharashtra in the upcoming National School Chess Championship. Therefore, along with the state level title, the players were fighting till the end to get the ticket to the national tournament.
At the conclusion of the competition, international referee P. B. Bhilare and Founder and Managing Director of Indian Chess School and Competition Director Praful Zaveri presented the prizes to the winners. The top three players in each group were honored with the SBI Life Cup. Medals were awarded to the fourth to tenth ranked players. Also, the first ten players in all the six groups were given a cash prize of ten thousand rupees each. Thus a total prize money of Rs.6 lakh was distributed.
Chief Umpire International Umpire P. B. The competition was successfully conducted under the supervision of Bhilare. The tournament was supported by major sponsor SBI Life and venue partner Rustamji Cambridge International School.