Nagpur’s rising chess star Shaunak Badole scripted a memorable international debut by emerging as the champion of the Commonwealth Youth Chess Championship in Sri Lanka. Fresh from his National U-13 title triumph last year, Shaunak delivered a dominant performance to bag two gold medals on Monday, winning both the classical and rapid titles in the U-14 category.
Top-seeded in the U-14 Open section with an Elo rating of 2240, Shaunak opened the tournament with two straight wins before playing out draws against higher-seeded rivals in the next three rounds. The turning point came in the sixth round, where the 14-year-old outclassed Sri Lanka’s Nanayakkara Sanuk despite playing with the black pieces. Carrying that momentum forward, Shaunak finished with four consecutive victories, including a crucial win over second-seeded Indian AIM Adhiraj Mitra in the penultimate round. He then comfortably defeated fourth seed Laddad Aadhavan Atish in the final round to seal the title with 7.5 points from six wins and three draws.
The Nagpur prodigy continued his golden run in the rapid format, producing a flawless display by winning all seven rounds to clinch his second gold medal with a perfect score. A student of Narayana Vidyalayam, Shaunak will next represent India in the upcoming Asian and World U-14 Championships later this year.
Nagpur also celebrated another strong performance through Saksham Wadhwa in the U-18 Open category. Saksham narrowly missed out on the classical gold medal despite remaining unbeaten throughout the tournament. With five wins and four draws, he finished with seven points to claim the silver medal, just half a point behind Malaysia’s FM Siva Kumar Nirish Kumar. Saksham added another podium finish in the rapid section, securing the bronze medal with five points from seven rounds.
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