Kumar’s Fiji Chess Champion

Candidate Master (CM) Manoj Ku­mar won the first Telecom Fiji Chess Championship on second tie-break after being equaled on the scoreboard by fellow Olympiad rep CM Taione Sikivou at 4.5/5.

CM Noel Adricula finished third with 4/5, CM Goru Arvind was fourth with 3.5/5 and Zen Borg was fifth with 3/5.

“We are happy to conclude a successful tournament courtesy of Telecom Fiji who have kindly sponsored the event,” tournament arbiter Hilda Vukikomoa­la. “Performances of upcoming players like William Bennion, Rudr Prasad, Tanvi Prasad and Avinesh Nadan is al­ways encouraging for the sport.”

Young Tanvi Prasad won the women’s category with an impressive score of 3/5 while siblings Surani Jayasekara and Sadini Jayasekara were second and third respectively.

Rudr Prasad, the talented elder broth­er of Tanvi, replicated her feat by win­ning the Secondary School’s category with 3/5. He managed to upset CM Goru Arvind in one of his rounds.

“Chess is a growing sport with almost 190 countries participating in a World Chess Olympiad,” Vukikomala said.

“In the next five years, we hope to tap further into our local talent and take the sport to a new level in the South Pacific.”

The Primary School’s Category was won by Aniketh Lal at 2.5/5. He was fol­lowed by Arnav Lal and Sandeu Amar­asinghe second and third respectively, while siblings Rashmika Perera and Ashmitha Perera secured the 4th and 5th positions.

The Best Beginner’s Award was given to Jiuta Saranuku for having a decent debut with 2/5.

The next tournament is tentatively scheduled at FASANOC Olympic House on Sunday May 26 starting at 8:30am.

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