Siddhant Salunkhe wins Shivbhoomi International Open FIDE Rapid Chess tournament in Katraj

Siddhant Salunkhe of Maharashtra won the Shivbhoomi International Open FIDE Rapid Chess tournament, organised by the Shivbhoomi Shikshan Trust. The tournament was held at Aaroh Garden Mangal Karyalay in Katraj.

In the ninth round, Salunkhe faced Akhilesh Nagare on the first board. Salunkhe won the game and finished first with 8.5 points. Nagare ended with 7 points.

Viresh Sharanarthi took second place. In the ninth round he held Suyog Wagh to a draw. Both finished on 7.5 points, but Viresh came second on a Buchholz Cut average score of 56.5. Shlok Sharanarthi was third. He beat Kavish Limaye and secured third place with 7.5 points and a Buchholz Cut average score of 54.5.

The winner received a trophy and Rs 30,000. The runner-up received a trophy and Rs 20,000. The prizes were presented by international coach IM Chandrashekhar Gokhale, Dehu Chief Executive Officer Chetan Konde, international player Tejas Deshmukh and BJP vice-president Mahesh Tapre.

Santosh Koli, Aditya Jagtap, Vivek Bhagwat, Nagnath Halkude, Sunil Ghoderao and Santon D'Souza were present at the event. Rajendra Konde, director of the Shivbhoomi Shikshan Trust, tournament director and MCA vice-president, also attended. Chief arbiter IA Rajendra Shidore, deputy chief arbiter IA Shraddha Vinchvekar and Sangram Konde, among others, were also there.

Other ninth-round results followed. Kashish Jain (7.5 points) beat Shitij Prasad (6.5). Priyanshu Patil (7.5) beat Avirat Chauhan (6.5). Sakshi Chitlange (7.5) defeated Nirgun Keval (6.5). Kushagra Jain (7.5) beat Sankarsha Shelke (6.5). Om Lamkane (7.5) defeated Aniruddha Deshpande (6.5). Mihir Sarwade (7) beat Parth Salunkhe (6.5). Nikhil Dixit (7) beat Utkarsh Bhilwade (6).

Saurabh Mhamane (7) beat Tvesha Jain (6). Abhijit Bilpe and Saksham Bhardwaj, both on 6.5 points, drew their game. Preyas Waghmare (7) beat Mithawala Lekh (6). Rutam Mohgaonkar (7) beat Nivaan Agarwal (6). Viraj Saraf (7) beat Priyank Aliporewala (6).

The Shivbhoomi International Open FIDE Blitz Chess tournament was also held at the event, and Suyog Wagh of Maharashtra won it. In the ninth round, on the first board, he held Avirat Chauhan to a draw. He finished first with 8 points and a Buchholz Cut average score of 55.