Evan Antonio Telles and Sidonia Da Cunha emerged champions in the Open and Girls Category respectively, at the All Goa U-7 Open and Girls Chess Championship/Selection 2024.
Telles (Elo 1431) of Salcete outwitted Joash Cardozo in the final round. He had defeated top seed Prayank Gaonkar (1491) also of Salcete, in the penultimate round to emerge as the U-7 State Champion in the Open Category by staying unbeaten throughout the tournament. Prayank Gaonkar outplayed Vivaan Rane in the final round to finish second in the tournament with 5 points.
Aarav Naik (Ponda) beat Ansh Gawas to finish third while Joash Cardozo (Salcete) clinched the fourth place. Ansh Gawas (Mormugao) stood fifth whilst Aarav Nagueshkar (Mormugoa) beat Tansh Gaude to be placed sixth.
In the girls category, Sidonia (Tiswadi) defeated Raghavi Haldankar (Bardez) in the final round after getting the better of Aaradhya Dessai (Mormugoa) in the penultimate round; to emerge the U-7 State Champion. She was unbeaten throughout the tournament.
Aaradhya Dessai (Mormugao) defeated Amaira Borkar (Ponda) in the final round to emerge runners-up. Shivanya Rao (Salcete) beat Trisha Patekar (Pernem) in the final round to bag third and fourth place respectively. Raghavi Haldankar (Bardez) took the 5th position whilst Shreesha Ghadi was sixth.
The top two players will be selected to represent Goa at the U-7 Nationals to be played in Bangalore, Karnataka. The tournament drew 29 players in the Open Category and 17 players in the Girls Category.
The other prize-winners are as follows:
Best players: (Salcete) Boys 1st: Vivaan Rane, 2nd: Narayan Alias Aarav A Prabhu Dessai; Girls 1st: Aria Fernandes, 2nd: Aarna Joshi.
The tournament was organised by Salcete Taluka Chess Association in association with Govt. College of Commerce & Economics Borda under the aegis of Goa Chess Association; and held in the premises of Govt. College of Commerce & Economics, Borda .
The Closing Ceremony was held in the presence of Dr F M Nadaf, Principal of Government College of Commerce and Economics, Margao as the chief guest of the event. The other dignitaries present for the occasion were Pradeep Gaonkar, Assistant Director, Dept of IT, Electronics and Communications, Government of Goa as the Guest of Honour; Ashesh Keni, Secretary of Goa Chess Association; Damodar Zambaulikar, Vice-President (South), Goa Chess Association, Satyavan Harmalkar, Vice President (North), Goa Chess Association, and Dilip Vernekar, Treasurer, Salcete Taluka Chess Association.
