Riya Sawant creates history

Eight and a half years old Riya Sawant, who is a 2nd standard
student of St. Mary's High School, Mapusa created history
by becoming the youngest ever Subjunior Girls Champion in the
Goa State Subjunior Chess Championship which concluded
at the Sarvodaya High School, Curchorem today.

Riya, who is a student of V. Sivaswamy and a product of the
Bambolim Chess Club, finished the tourney with a maximum of 5
possible points by winning her fifth round game against Sukanya
Chari. The second and third places went to the top seeds Celiane
Carvalho and Nandini Saripalli who finished with 4 points each and
identical progressive scores. Celiane was adjudged second by virtue
of a coin toss. The fourth place went to unrated Sukanya Chari
who edged out Sonali Kerkar on a higher progressive score
although both finished with an identical score of 3.5 points.

In the Boys section, top seed Anurag Mhamal drew both his last two
games with Niraj Saripalli and Umang Kaisary. Nevertheless, he still
finished first with 6 points and completed a creditable hattrick of
victories in the same category. Second place went to Cyrus Perreira,
the Asian Schools Under 11 Gold Medallist, who finished with 5 and
a half points. Mohanan Harikrishnan, Niraj Saripalli and Umang Kaisary
finished in third to fifth places in that order.

Mrs. Jostna Saripalli and SAG coach Avinash Malvankar were the
Chief Arbiters for the event organised by the Mir Sultan Khan Chess
Academy. The prize money of Rs. 25,000/- was sponsored by Shreeji Sales
Corporation. The Chief Guest for the prize distribution ceremony
was Dr. Peter Carvalho, the founder of Cortalim Chess Club.

Last round results with the points tally in brackets -

Girls
Sukanya Chari (3.5 pts) lost to Riya Sawant (5 pts)
Celiane Carvalho (4 pts) beat Urvi Bandekar (3 pts)
Sampada Barve (3 pts) lost to Nandini Saripalli (4 pts)
Vidula Dempo (3 pts) beat Gauri Hadkonkar (2.5 pts)
Sonali Kerkar (3.5 pts) beat Dipashree Malvankar (2 pts)

Boys
Anurag Mhamal (6 pts) drew with Umang Kaisary (5 pts)
M. Harikrishnan (5.5 pts) drew with Cyrus Perreira (5.5 pts)
Rakshit Rai (4.5 pts) drew with Niraj Saripalli (5 pts)
Amod Kolwalkar (5 pts) beat Yeshitesh Shirodkar (4 pts)
Snehil Shetty (4 pts) lost to Anirudh bhat (5 pts)