CURCHOREM

Niraj Saripalli of Salcete Taluka clinched the Goa State Open FIDE Rating senior chess championship 2018. He was unstoppable throughout the tournament even though he was held by CM Leon Mendonca in the 7th round and  Devesh Naik in the 8th round for a draw. In the decisive round, he defeated  Reuben Colaco of Salcete Takuka to score 8 points from 9 rounds to remain unbeaten. On the second board Ritviz Parab who was earlier upset by Niraj Saripalli in the 6th round, made a comeback to score 8 points after he beat Anirudh Parsekar of Mourmugao Taluka in the last round but due to his difference in tiebreak, had to settle on runner-up position. Devesh Anand  Naik(7.5)  outplayed Ishan Pagi on the 3rd board to finish second runner-up. CM Leon Mendonca beat Tanvi Hadkonkar to finish 4th.

Meanwhile, in the penultimate round playing on the second board, Ritviz Parab got better of CM Leon Mendonca after his oversight error in the time pressure and Anirudh Parsekar defeated Aryan Raikar on the 3rd board with some tactical play. The top 4 players will be selected to represent Goa state for Nationals to be held in Maharashtra in December.

The 5-day tournament finally came to an end and all the players played tirelessly with all efforts thus the tournament concluded smoothly. Top 20 players were awarded cash prizes and trophies. 2 boys and 2 girls in different age categories from U-7 to U-15 years, player above 50 years, best female & best un-rated player and 3 best Quepem players also were given prizes.

The prizes were given away by chief guest Felix Fernandes(chair-person Cacora-Curchorem Muncipal council), guest of honour kishor Bandekar (Secretary Goa Chess Association and Treasurer AICF) in the presence of Chief Arbiter Sanjay Kavlekar,  Jt . Secretary GCA Shairendra Naik and Maschindra Desai, Rasika Kavlekar(secretary QTCA) and treasurer Sushant Vaidya, Amrut Naik (Member), Sarita Bandekar, Swapnil Hoble, Gautam Tari, Vivek Sohani and Narayan Vasta.