Update: 4:50PM VETERAN candidate Master Manoj Kumar successfully defended his title by taking out the Open division at the 36th Kundan Singh Chess Tournament in Suva on Sunday.
CM Kumar was unbeaten after five rounds, winning all his games before being held to a draw in the last round by Zen Borg.
“I’ve been preparing well since January for the Pacific Zonal competition held in New Zealand where we played against top countries like NZ, Australia and Palau and from there I continued to work on my skills like playing online games which keeps me up to par.
“It’s a matter of confident and passion to make you a good chess player and I hope that the senior players can come in for the next tournament to provide mileage for our young players who are interest in playing Chess,” Kumar said.
Artem Veridiyan, a visiting player from the United States, impressed during the one-day event by clinching the second spot with 4 points.
Newcomer Raicebe Macanawai shocked the field by coming in third with 3 points while Premadish Pramisesh was fourth with 3 points.
Jordon Mohr beat the odds to be crowned the top junior player with an impressive 4 points, losing only to CM Kumar.
Teliko Koroi was the top women’s player with 2 points.
Kumar hope that they will get as much game time as possible to prepare for the World Chess Team event in Georgia next year.
Tournament Organiser and Chief Arbiter Calvin Prasad was impressed with the impact of the new players.
“We had six new players and they claimed three of the top four spots in the Open Division, this augurs well for Fiji Chess and the next few tournaments could see a new champion crowned,”
In the Junior Division, Borg was second with 3.5 points, Jed Mataika third with 3 points, while Claudya Koroi claimed fourth place with 3 points.
Consolation prizes were also awarded, with Jashnil Narayan, Vinooda Senewiratne, Devlin Grewal, and Ravneel Kumar each receiving new tournament chess set worth $60.
The next tournament on the FCF calendar is the Brijlal Chess Open on March 19, 2017, at Kshatriya Hall in Suva. Entry fee is $5 for under-20 players and $10 for others.
