Goa State U-13 Open and Girls Chess Championship kicked off today at the Mahalaxmi Hindu Vachan Mandir Hall in Mala-Panaji. The tournament has been organised by the Tiswadi Taluka Chess Association under the auspices of the Goa Chess Association, in collaboration with Mahalaxmi Vachan Mandir. The event is sponsored by Dr. Peter Carvalho.
Mahesh Candolkar, President of Goa Chess Association, made the first move on the board alongside top seed Joshua Telles to mark the start of the competition; in the presence of Naresh Pednekar, Sushant Senke, Arvind Mhamal (Chief Arbiter), Pallavi Kakodkar, Atish Angle, Shravan Barve.
At the conclusion of the first round in the Open section, all seeded players advanced to the second round. They include: Joshua Telles, Shubh Borkar, Saras Powar, Aaryavrat Naik Desai, Rishir Gawas, Vihaan Tari, Arthav Shirodker, Nathan Cardozo, Gourish Roy, Aryan Naik, Vivaan Kadam, Atharv Ghatwal, Vipul Kadam, Zayn Gonsalves, Rudra Gaonkar, Narayan Prabhu Dessai, Ekang Malvankar, Kavin Kamesh, Arnav Dhote, Deepansh Naik.
In addition, 20 other players secured 1 point each and progressed to the next round. In the Girls’ section, the following players have each achieved 1 point: Asmi Terse, Muriel Fernandes, Alaina Gomes, Shinel Rodrigues, Shivanya Rao, Krutika Aggrawal, Avani Sawaikar, Jensina Sequeira, Diya Naik, Tvisha Dessai, Shreesha Ghadi, Kamesh Khayalvizhi, Samriti Malkar, Samruddhi Nagvenkar along with 14 other players. The tournament will conclude on May 24.
