MARGAO
Chess prodigy Ethan Vaz secured a podium finish at the Under-12 National Chess Championships 2022.
The 10-year old Goan player scored 9 points in 11 rounds, missing out on winning the championship by just half a point. Ethan was tied with the top seed for second place, but had to settle for a bronze owing to a marginally lower tie-break score (Buchholz Cut 1 of 78 vs 78.5).
The performance helped Ethan seal a berth in the Indian team for the Asian and World Chess Championships to be held later this year. Last year, Ethan had finished joint-first and clinched silver at the Under-10 Open National Chess Championship 2021, which was held online owing to the pandemic.
The MPL 34th National Under-12 Open & Girls Chess Championships 2022 were organised on behalf of All India Chess Federation by Mandya Chess Academy in association with Karnataka State Chess Association, from April 9 to 14 at Mandya, Karnataka. A total of 372 players from across India (238 in Open Championship and 134 in Girls Championship) participated in the event.
The Goan delegation for the Nationals consisted of 13 players (7 in Open, and 6 in Girls). In the Open Championship, Abhir Prabhu finished in 51st place with 6.5 points, Rajveer Patil in 72nd place with 6.5 points, Angle Vedant (6 points), Atharva Sawal (5.5 points) and Pagi Sarvang (4 points). Aiden Grao had scored 1.5 points in 3 rounds before he withdrew from the tournament owing to a family emergency. In the Girls Championship, Shriya Patil finished 26th with 7 points, followed by Diya Sawal in 61st place with 6 points, Shrivalli Gandhi (5.5 points), Sequeira Jennica (5 points), Saeeja Dessai (4 points) and Shrama Morudkar (4 points).
