Indians dominate in Commonwealth chess

Sethuraman won the main title.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO: VELANKANNI RAJ

India dominated the Commonwealth chess championship at Waskaduwa (Sri Lanka), walking away with most of the medals on offer.

Second seed S.P. Sethuraman won the tournament’s main title, scoring seven points from nine rounds. Fifth-seeded N.R. Vignesh, also with seven points, finished runner-up after the tie-breakers were applied.

Dilshan Liyanage of the host finished third with 6.5 points, the same as J. Deepan Chakravarthy, who had to be content with fourth place. Top seed Vaibhav Suri was placed ninth.

Among women, Mary Ann Gomes came first, scoring 5.5 points, followed by Sakshi Chitlange and Soumya Swaminathan. In Under-20, Arjun Adireddy (five points) and Kalyani Sirin (4.5) finished first, in the open and the girls’ sections respectively.

The placings: 1-2. S.P. Sethuraman and N.R. Vignesh 7/9; 3. Dilshan Liyanage (SL) 6.5.

Under-18: Open: 1. Ajay Parvathareddy 6.5/7; 2. Gaurang Bagwe 6; Rashmitha Liyanage (SL) 4. Girls: 1. Rajanya Datta 5.5/7; 2. Leah Rice (Sgp) 5; 3. Siya Sagar 3.5.

Under-16: Open: 1. Ethan Vaz 7/9; 2-3. S. Rohith and Daksh Goyal 6.5. Girls: 1. Shubhi Gupta 8/9; 2. Mrittika Mallick 7; 3. Yashvi Jain 6.5.

Under-14: Open: 1. Viresh Sharnarthi 5.5/7; 2-3. M. Mridav and V. Raghav 5. Girls: 1. Arshiya Das 6.5/7; 2-3. Shreya Hipparagi and Theruni Jayasundara (SL) 5.

Under-12: Open: Mayukh Majumder 8/9; 2-3. Sri Akhil Prasad 6.5; 3. Siddhanth Poonja 6. Girls: 1. Pratitee Bordoloi 7.5/9; 2-3. Siddhi Rao and Sethumlee Palliyage (SL) 6.5.

Under-10: Open: A.P. Chenitha Karunasena (SL) and Thehas Kiringoda (SL) 8/9; 3. Advik Agrawal 7.5. Girls: 1. Aaradhya Das 8.5/9; 2. Divi Bijesh 8; 3. Pungavanam Samhita 6.5.

Under-8: 1-2. Ayaan Phutane and Sarbartho Mani 8.5/9; 3. Hriday Garg 6. Girls: M. Harshika 8/9; 2-3. S. Nethumi Perera (SL) and Eleesha Fernando (SL) 7.