NAGPUR’S Nilay Kulkarni started his campaign in Jai Sai Welfare Foundation organised All India Open Below 1600 FIDE Rating Chess Tournament with wins on opening day at 7 Vachhan Hall in Wardhaman Nagar on Saturday.

On the opening day, Kulkarni, who is seeded second, registered three wins to sit at the top with as many points along with other winners.In the first round, Kulkarni defeated Angarapu Durga Babu of Chhattisgarh and then went on to beat Maharashtra’s Surendra Sardar. In the third round, Kulkarni continued his form as he beat Aaditya Kamath of Maharashtra.

Top seed Saikat Nath of Delhi too started with twin wins over Anantkumar Collins, Viaan Samir Makhani both from Gujarat and Nagpur’s Sahejveer Singh Maras. Earlier, the tournament was inaugurated by DCP Archit Chandak.

Dr Hemant Sonare, Dilip Kamdar, Sushant Jumde, Tournament Organising Secretary and Nilesh Channawar were also present. The programme was compered by Abhijit Mule. IA Swapnil Bansod is the Chief Arbiter along with IA Deepak Chavhan, SNA Akash Punde, SNA Gayatri Panbude, SNA Shital Panbude, SNA Amit Tembhurne, Shubham Soni and Amit Bhongare.