Port Blair, June 30: The 1st Late T Mohan Rao Memorial Open Chess Tournament 2024 which commenced on 29.06.2024 at Andhra Association Hall, Port Blair concluded successfully today. The event was organised by Andaman Nicobar Chess Association (ANCA) in collaboration with Andhra Association Port Blair.
The final day of the games were inaugurated by Smti. Nandini Maharaj, IAS, ADM (SA), who attended the inaugural session of the final day of play this morning as the chief guest. She made the ceremonial first move at the top boards against J. S. Virat to start the final day's games.
Around 210 players passionately participated in this two-day event, which was played over 9 rounds in the Swiss Rapid format. R Kashthuri Bhai emerged as the winner of the tournament, scoring 8 points from 9 rounds with a better tie-break Buchholz Cut 1 than J S Virat, who also scored 8 points and remained unbeaten in the tournament and had to settle for second place despite winning a nail-biter game against Kasthuri. E Vishal Khanna secured the third place with 7.5 points, while A Divesh and Shrihaan Karmakar finished fourth and fifth respectively.
T Sathiya Moorthy secured the sixth place with 7 points. Yuvan Singh and SM Dinesh Kumar secured the seventh and eighth place, while SPM Darshan and Manish Ram secured the ninth and tenth place respectively.
The top ten players in the open category were awarded trophies and certificates by Lt. Col. Iqbaljit Singh, Garrison Engineer (GE) Defence, and Shri Narasimha Murthy, Asstt. Comdt. IRBn, who attended the closing ceremony as chief guest and guest of honour respectively.
Apart from the Open Category, prizes in different age categories were also awarded to the best players in different age categories as follows.
Under 07 Girls: N Shreenika, First, N Danusri, Second
Under 07 Boys: R Medanth, First, M Lavish, Second
Under 09 Girls: D Charvi, First, T Vanshika Rao, Second
Under 09 Boys: Vyom Tiwari, First, Sachit Bara, Seond
Under 11 Girls: Palina Sudeeksha, First, K Lochna, Second
Under 11 Boys: Rohan singh, First, A Arush, Second
Under 13 Girls: T Sonam Mahesh, First, Sriya Raj, Second
Under 13 Boys: B Lalith, First, Y Ronnie Ronaldo, Second
Best Youngest Boy: V K Nuhaan Siddique
Best Youngest Girl: D Neharika
Best Veteran: P Sukumar
Best Female Player: T Pravalika