Orange City’s chess players dominated the Shaastra Juniors National-level online chess tournament which concluded on Sunday evening.
Grandmaster Raunak Sadhwani emerged champion in the two-day tourney, while another city chess player Sankalp Gupta finished a creditable third.
On the first day of the competition, preliminary rounds were held where all the participants faced each other in an Arena battle.
After the completion of the first round of preliminaries, the top 24 players qualified for the finals round on Day 2.
The second-day competition was held on a knock-out basis. Having finished on top in the qualifications, Raunak faced the No. 24 qualifier in the first round on Day 2. Against each player, Raunak played two matches each — one with the white pieces and second with black pieces.
Similarly, the No. 2 player battled against the No. 23 qualifier. Raunak had no trouble in eliminating his opponents to book his berth in the top-four.
In the semifinals and final too, city’s first GM registered victories to clinch the title. For his efforts, Raunak pocketed Rs 10,000.
Sankalp Gupta also excelled in the tourney and placed third.
Raunak was delighted for his triumph. “I am very happy with the results. It was an interesting format. Several top national-level players took part in the competition. I did well to emerge the winner,” said 14-year-old Raunak.
Courtesy: orangecitysports.com
