| Himal of Chandigarh wins FIDE Rating Chess title | | Ritwan Sauntra, Sumit, Rohit bring laurels to J&K | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Nov17: Present Chandigarh champion, Himal Gusain today clinched the BR Luthra Memorial FIDE Rating Open (prize money) Chess Tournament securing highest 7.5 points out of nine rounds at Luthra College, here.
The title win made Himal rich by Rs 35,000 and improvement in his international rating. Young Himal is a 12th standard Arts student, who spends four to five hours a day to practice his game.
“Since I have devoted myself to the game fully to become a professional player in future, I practices for about five hours a day so as to maintain a level. I recently won the Chandigarh state championship and remained third in the Under-17 National event held in Jammu,” Himal told SAN.
Second place went to Santanu Borpatra Gohain of Assam with seven points in his account. He got a cash prize of Rs 20,000 by the organiers, All J&K Chess Association. Gogesh Gautam of Haryana bagged Rs 10,000 cash award for securing third place with 6.5 points.
As many as four players got same 6.5 points but fourth place (Rs 6,000) went to Vikas Sharma of Punjab.
Two players from host J&K brought laurels to the state winning fifth and six place to get cash prizes. While state champion, Ritwan Sauntra bagged fifth position to get Rs 4,000, his senior Sumit Grover remained sixth and was given away Rs 2,000.
Another young player from J&K, Rohit Bhardwaj was awarded a special prize of Rs 5,000 for being best unrated player of the tournament.
The encouraging part of the tournament was that six J&K players got partial rating while Bhardwaj got full rating in the Fide list. Upcoming players of J&K State Abhay Sudan, Danish Pathania, Chetanya Sharma, Rajat Bhardwaj and young Arushi Kotwal gave an improved performance.
Among other special prize winners were Candidate Master of Delhi, Prince Bajaj, who was awarded Rs 4,000 for being best under-15 participant. As also Mahasweta Kumar of Assam, who declared best women player. She also bagged Rs 5,000 as cash incentive.
In the final and prize distribution function, Chairman of Luthra College of Education, Rajiv Luthra was chief guest, who gave away prizes to the top 15 position holders. He encouraged the state players for giving tough fight to the higher ranking opponents from other states and complimented the association for taking the initiatives of hosting the prize money national event.
Sanjeev Luthra, who presented cash prizes and certificates to other distinguished performers, was guest of honour in the valedictory function.
Earlier, chief arbiter, Dharmendra Kumar delivered a comprehensive competition report and appreciated the organizational skills and promotion of the game in the state by the young team of All J&K Chess Association. He had special mention of Association president, Atul Gupta and secretary, Baldev Raj.
Main Prize List
Gusain Himal (2164), Chandigarh, 7.5 pts, Rs 35,000
Santanu Borpatra Gohain (2132), Assam, 7 pts, Rs 20,000
Yogesh Gautam (1997), Haryana, 6.5 pts, Rs 10,000
Vikas Sharma (2185), Punjab, 6.5 pts, Rs 6,000
Ritwan Sauntra (2088), J&K, 6.5 pts, Rs 4,000
Sumit Grover (2039), J&K, 6.5 pts, Rs 2,000
Dave Kantilal (2190), Rajasthan, 6 pts, Rs 1,000
Projit Phukon (2062), Assam, 6 pts, Rs, 1000
Dhar Rajib (2182), Assam, 6 pts, Rs 1,000
Dave Shiv Shankar (1860), Rajasthan, 6 pts, Rs 1,000
Madhab Sarma (2073), Assam, 5.5 pts, Rs 1,000
Mohammad Ashraf (2133), Orissa, 5.5 pts, Rs 1,000
Nandan Buragohain (1940), Assam, 5.5 pts, Rs 1,000
Nandan Buragohain 91940), Assam, 5.5 pts, Rs 1000
Akshat Chandra (1809), Delhi, 5.5 pts, Rs 1,000
Rajagopalan (1663), Delhi, 5.5 pts, Rs 1,000
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