Sikivou tops chess online

Candidate Master (CM) Taione Sikivou won the first-ever local Online Blitz Chess Championship tournament hosted by Fiji Chess Federation on Sunday by scoring a perfect 6/6.

The event featured prominent Fijian chess players like Avinesh Nadan of Nadi,

Prashant Sarup, Tanvi Prasad, Menash Fareed, Rudr Prasad and Mukesh Arvindh Paranthaman.

“We did not expect this to happen, but chess is actually growing online,” states FCF president Hilda Kunau.

“It is an excellent opportunity as we can reach out to chess players outside Suva and Nadi now. In a way, our boundaries have opened up for the future.”

Avinesh Nadan and Rudr Prasad finished second and third respectively with 4.5/6 each in an event where games were played with 5 minutes plus 3-second increment per move for time control. Benjamin James,

Robert Cohen, Raymond Nadan and Jasnil Narayan also made their online local debut on Sunday.

Fiji Chess Federation hopes to open up online local tournaments to the public in the future.

Next JOCL session is on Sunday from 6pm to 8pm.