Sarup propels Fiji into second place

Upcoming player Prashant Sarup stunned several international opponents to top-score for Team Fiji with 6/7 in last weekend’s Junior Online Chess League (JOOC) against Australia and New Zealand. He received considerable support from other reps where Avinesh Nadan of Nadi scored 5/7, Taione Sikivou had 4/7 while Goru Arvind finished with 3.5/7.

Fiji’s senior players collectively tallied 18.5 points to end second overall ahead of Akshay Sharma’s NZ Wise who had the same score but a lower tie-break. The event was won by Haonan Zhu led NZ Sharp with 20.5 points.

“Prashant and Avinesh actually piled up a whopping 11 points which is outstanding,” states Fiji Chess Federation president Hilda Vukikomoala.

“Both these players have been consistently increasing the bar for

Team Fiji and we are hoping for more in the near future.”

In a field of over 40 players, Prashant Sarup finished second overall, only next to Akshay Sharma of NZ Wise who also had 6/7.

The Fiji’s Under-20 reps also played some decent games where Rudr Prasad of Jai Narayan College defeated Hunter Po’e-Tofaeono and Sam Harvey of NZ Sharp, while his younger sister Tanvi Prasad of Deenbandhoo Primary School won against Eric Mironov of NZ Sharp.

ASIAN JUNIORS

“Fiji is also ready to announce a six-member online chess team for the Asian Junior Chess Championship,” adds general secretary Goru Arvind.

“A number of upcoming Under-20 reps were reviewed this week, and we will name three boys and three girls to play in Asian Zone 3.6 which covers Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and all other Pacific Island Countries (PICs).”

NEXT ROUND

Notable wins by Fiji Wise players were Prashant Sarup defeating Richard Totton (NZ Wise), Junior Master (JM) Rohit Mudaliar (NZ Sharp), Steven Hartwell (NZ Wise), Coach Paul (NZ Wise) and JM Daqi Mao (NZ Sharp), Avinesh Nadan Nadan beating JM Rohit Mudaliar (NZ Sharp) and Candidate Master (CM) Taione Sikivou winning against Soroush Safaei (NZ Wise) and Joel Leong (AU Sharp). Another senior rep Prashil Prakash added 2.5 points for Fiji Wise in his online international debut.

The next online round of JOOC will be played from 6pm- 8pm this Sunday.