Nubairshah Shaikh emerged champion in the Shivaji Park Gymkhana and Satish Sabnis Foundation organised 5th Satish Sabnis Open Rapid Chess Championship and played at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana. The talented Nubairshah did well to accumulate a total of 8 points in the 9-round competition to finish in first place.
Champion Nubairshah Shaikh receives his Trophy, certificate and prize-money from former Indian Test cricketer Pravin Amre (left).
Rakesh Kulkarni and Om Kharola, both finished with 7.5 points each, but the former was declared runner-up on the basis of better progressive scores. Om Kharola had to settle for the third position.
A separate competition was held for the blind where Satish Baghule was the winner with 5 points and Sagar Mangurde finished as the runner up.
Nubairshah received his Trophy, certificate and prize-money of Rs 21,000 from former Indian hockey player Yuvraj Walmiki and former Test cricketer Pravin Amre. Rakesh was rewarded with Rs 15,000 while third-placed Om Kharola won Rs 11,000. Sairaj Chittal who finished fourth, won Rs 9,000.
Rana Ronaiv, who finished 2nd in the Boys’ Under-8 category of the 5th Satish Sabnis Open Rapid Chess Championship , receives his Trophy from former Indian hockey player Yuvraj Walmiki.
Like in the previous editions, this year, too, the competition was of quite a high level as the young lot talent and bright minds tried their best to outwit each other at the chess boards.
Deputy Commissioner (Zone-5) Rajiv Jain, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s General Secretary Sandip Deshpande, and senior journalist Prafulla Marpakwar were present at the inauguration of the tournament.
The annual event is held in the memory of Satish Sabnis, who organised the International Chess Championship in the city for the first time in 1984. A national level chess player himself, Sabnis was president of the Maharashtra Chess Association and Vice President of the All India Chess Federation and manager for the Dubai – Chess Olympiad, which incidentally, was grandmaster Viswanathan Anand’s first international chess tournament.