Nihansh Khode from Nagpur has won the U-7 Maharashtra chess championship. He remained unbeaten, scoring 8.5 points in the state U-7 Open chess tournament held in Pune. Nihansh finished ahead of national champion Kavish Bhattad, drawing their match in the seventh round. The two-day event, organized by the Maharashtra Chess Association, saw Nihansh win eight rounds and secure the title with a better tie-break score.
Both Nihansh Khode and Kavish Bhattad finished the tournament with 8.5 points, but Nihansh triumphed based on the Buchholz Tie-Break system, winning by 1.5 points (50 – 48.5). Starting as the fourth seed with an Elo rating of 1511, the seven-year-old chess prodigy secured six consecutive victories. He defeated Rivaan Mehta of Mumbai Central, Kabir Kulkarni from Pune, Ajinkya Kamble of Solapur, Kabir Dalvi from Jalgaon, Vallabh Chavan from Nashik, and Nishwanth Ramkumar from Pune, setting up a crucial seventh-round showdown with Kavish.
In the seventh round, Nihansh used his opening advantage with the white pieces to draw against Kavish. In the eighth round, he defended solidly with black to beat Ansh Dadhich from Raigad. In the final round, Nihansh again played with black and outplayed Pune’s Riaansh Pitale to secure the top spot with 8.5 points, becoming the new Maharashtra champion. The tournament saw 103 players from across the state competing.
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