IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni launched her campaign on a positive winning note. The Kolhapur challenger Kulkarni easily defeated Mumbai’s Akhil Shah on the top board in the opening round of the 1st All India FIDE Rating Open Chess Tournament 2024, hosted by South Mumbai Chess School and to be played at the Russian House, Peddar Road, Mumbai, on Friday.
Playing with the black pieces, she started with the Sicilian defense, and after being challenged by white pieces, she converted into the centre game. She then dominated the proceedings, and with little resistance from Shah, she went on to win the match in 31 moves.
In another first-round match, WCM Kriti Patel, starting with black pieces, also tasted success, defeating Aria Reshamwala to collect a full point. Besides Kulkarni and Patel, all the other rated players were comfortable first-round winners.
Earlier, Chief Guest, MLA Rahul Narvekar, speaker of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, inaugurated the tournament in the presence of the participants.
“Playing is important. Winning and losing are part of the game. But, to participate, and play is very, very important. It’s always like this shall inculcate sportsman spirit in these young children who are the future of our country, who are the foundation of the future of our country and, therefore, it is necessary to participate in such tournaments and provide a strong bonding, and principles in these children. Chess is a sport where you have to focus, you have to think, and perform,” said Narvekar.
“India and Russia, both have produced many, many reputed and strong players around the world. Therefore Russia and as well as India are always in the forefront of promoting this sport and I am sure in the days to come we shall give more rating to our young children and the resource available in the country to generate and create talent in this field and make the country proud,” he further stated.
Results – Top-8: Akhil Shah lost IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni 1-0;
Atharv Soni beat Aksh Shrivastava 1-0;
Akshath Pillai lost Yash Watarkar 0-1;
Sanjeev Mishra beat Anant Maheshwari 1-0;
Aneesh Nar lost Arnav Kherdekar 0-1;
Saurabh Kulkarni beat Anish Tailor 1-0;
Aria Reshamwala lost WCM Kriti Patel 0-1;
AIM Saikat Nath beat Artham Tiwari 1-0.
