Maharaj, Terubea dominate at Blitz
UNIVERSITY of the South Pacific student Yash Maharaj and Provisional Women’s Candidate Master Cydel Terubea clinched the 2024 Vodafone Fiji National Blitz Chess Champion and 2024 National Women’s Blitz Chess Champion titles.
In a hard-fought contest that lasted for 12 rounds with 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move, Maharaj amassed an unbeaten 10/12 to win the title ahead of Provisional FIDE Master (FM) Rudr Prasad who came second with 9.5/12.
Candidate Master (CM) Manoj Kumar settled for third place with a solid 9/12.
In the Women’s Division, Terubea defended her title successfully with a score of 7.5/12, while Latileta Masau of Dudley Intermediate School finished second with 6.5/12, and Vimansa Dissanayake of Deenbandhoo Memorial School finishing third with 5.5/12.
“The tournament attracted a total of 49 participants with almost 75 per cent of them coming from Primary and Secondary School. We are pleased to note that our younger players are consistently working hard and improving the level of competition in comparison to the past decade or so. This is mainly because of online resources and tech-savvy kids,” Fiji Chess secretary Goru Arvind stated.
The Secondary School’s Division was completely whitewashed by a talented trio from Jai Narayan College, where Arnav Lal took the first prize, edging out secondplaced schoolmate Zayne Keshwan and Kinura Herath.
In the Primary School’s Division, Yajas Sharma of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Primary School went into an unparalleled rampage that won the top place with 9/12, while Yash Prasad of Deenbandhoo Memorial School and Lionel Vaurasi of Yat Sen Primary School settled for second and third respectively.
The next Vodafone Fiji Rapid Chess Championship is tentatively scheduled for the latter half of this month.