SECOND seed Shaunak Badole and Yati Agarwal shared lead at the end of fifth round of 1st Children’s Chess Festival organised by Kalpana Prakash Welfare Foundation in Association with GH Raisoni Sports and Cultural Foundation at GH Raisoni Institute of Engineering and Technology, Shraddha Park, MIDC on Monday. Narayana Vidyalayam’s Shaunak and Yati kept their slates clean winning all the five matches on opening day of the event. Swaranjali Thawali of Centre Point School, Dabha was at the third spot with 4.5 points.

 

Top seed Pal Vedika of Bhavan’s BP Vidya Mandir, with four points, was placed fourth. Sixth round will start at 10:00 am and will be followed by prize distribution ceremony at 2:00 pm on Tuesday. At the outset, the tournament was inaugurated by Dr Vivek Kapur, Director of GHRIET and Corporator Nishant Gandhi. Present on the dais were Sacchidanand Soman (Tournament Committee Member of Maharashtra Chess Association), Bhushan Shriwas (Secretary) Kalpana Prakash Welfare Foundation and Organising Chairman.

 

As many as 163 players are taking part in the event. GHRIET has decided to organise a free vaccination drive for all parents. Sarang Thakre conducted the proceedings and proposed a vote of thanks. Chief arbiter of the tournament is IA Pravin Pantawane and under his guidance SNA Sheetal Panbude, SNA Swati Kumbhalkar, Amit Temburne, Prayas Ambade and members of GHRIET Vikrant Chole and Satish Pusdekar are working hard to make the tournament a grand success.