WITH a clean slate, FM Ayush Sharma of Madhya Pradesh is leading the table with seven points from seven rounds in the GH Raisoni Memorial Rapid Fide Rating Tournament, part of the Raisoni Chess Festival, that began on Saturday. Sharma was followed by Akash Thakur, Dishank Bajaj and WIM Srushti Pande, all from Nagpur, who were on second spot with six and half points each to their credit. In the seventh round, Sharma defeated Indrajit Mahindrakar on top board. Thakur accounted for Ashwin Daniel of Madhya Pradesh whereas Bajaj scored a win against SS Soman. Srushti beat J Ramkrishna of Telangana. The rapid event is being played in time control of 15 minutes each with 5 seconds increment for each move. The event has attracted a whopping 404 entries.

 

At the outset, the rapid meet was inaugurated at the hands of Archit Chandak, IPS, Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW ), Nagpur at GH Raisoni Institute of Information and Technology, Shraddha Park, Wadi Hingna Link Road, Nagpur. The Raisoni Chess Festival is being organised by GH Raisoni Sport and Cultural Foundation jointly with Kalpana Prakash Welfare Foundation and is recognised by Chess Association Nagpur, Maharashtra Chess Association, AICF and FIDE. Archit Chandak, IPS who himself is a FIDE rated Chess player, announced the start of event and extended his wishes for the event. On Sunday, the two remaining rounds of the event will be played in the morning followed by reporting for the blitz event which is scheduled at 11.00 am. The first round of blitz will start at 12.00 noon. The prize distribution function of rapid and blitz events will be held immediately after last round of blitz event.