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PANJIM: Top seed IM Ethan Vaz (2370) (Salcete) drew with Joshua Mark Telles in the final round to become the State champion by remaining unbeaten throughout the tournament with 6.5 points, while , Saeeja Gunesh Desai (Salcete) (1496) managed to outwit Aditi Atul Kamat (Salcete) in the final round to emerge champion with 5 points in the Open Section and girls section respectively of the All Goa State U-15 Open Chess Selection cum Championship 2024 organised by the Government College of Commerce and Economics, Margao and Salcete Taluka Chess Association on behalf of Goa Chess Association.
Joshua Mark Telles finished second and Ekka Aniket (1622) (Mormugoa) managed to outwit Sahil Shetty (Mormugoa) (1533) in the final round to finish third with 5.5 points. Shubh Vishnu Borkar (1738) defeated Shlok Sanjiv Mesta to finish fourth with 5.5 points.
The 5th to 7th place were won by the following player: Rajveer Patil, Saras Summer Powar and Aarth Siddhesh Shenvi Karapurkar. Best U-13 (Open) Player: Shlok Sanjiv Mesta, Best U-11 (Open) player: Shaurya Prabhu Agrasani. Best U-9 (Open) player: Rishit Gawas. Best U-7 (Open) player: Prayank Gaonkar. Best Salcete Taluka Player 1st place: Edrick Vaz. Best Salcete Taluka Player 2nd place: Atharva Sawal.
In the girls section, Saeeja Gunesh Desai (Salcete) (1496) managed to outwit Aditi Atul Kamat (Salcete) in the final round to emerge champion with 5 points.
Rachel Pereira (Salcete) (1549) drew with Israa Rikarty (Salcete) (1506) on the top board to finish second with 5 points. Vaishnavi Vijay Parab (Pernem) (1501) defeated Navya Narvekar in the final round to finish third with 5 points. Israa Rikarty (Salcete) finished fourth with 4.5 points.
The 5th to 7th place were won by the following player: Jennica Sequeira, Shriya Patil and Navya Narvekar. Best U-13 player: Sayuri Nasnodkar. Best U-11 player: Skyla Rodrigues. Best U-9 player: Krutika Agarwal. Best U-7 player: Aaradhya Dessai.
Best Salcete Taluka Player 1st place: Aditi Atul Kamat. Best Salcete Taluka Player 2nd place: Asmi Amit Terse.
The top four players from both the Open & Girls categories will be selected to represent Goa in the Nationals U-15 Chess Championship to be held in Tamil Nadu.
For the closing ceremony, Bhagwati Bhat was the chief guest. The other dignitaries present on the dias were Goa Chess Association Secretary Ashesh Keni, Goa Chess Association Vice President South Damodar Zambulikar, National level chess player Dr Anirudh Bhat, Jostna Saripalli and Ridikesh Dilip Vernekar.