Mumbai: Mumbai based Arnav Kherdekar emerged overall champion of the SMCA Chess School organized 1^st All India FIDE Rating Open Chess Tournament 2024, played at the Russian House, Peddar Road, Mumbai.

Arnav and compatriot IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni finished with 7.5 each at the end of the eighth and final round on Wednesday evening. Arnav with a better progressive tie-breaker score of 41.25 as compared to Vikramaditya 36.75 was declared the champion.

On the second board, Arnav Kherdekar (1846) defeated Darsh Shetty (1798), also of Mumbai, to stay in contention for the top position.

On the top board, Vikramaditya Kulkarni (2185) maintained his fine winning streak and defeated Atharv Soni (1968), but his inferior progressive score of 36.75 saw him finish in second position.

Yash Watarkar (1963 of Pune finished in third position with seven points. Watarkar defeated beat  Yuti Patel (1580) in third position with 7 points.

Results – Top-10 (Final round): 

IM Vikramaditya (7.5) beat  Atharv Soni (6) 1-0; Arnav Kherdekar (7.5) beat  Darsh Shetty (6) 1-0;  Yash Watarkar (7) beat  Yuti Patel (6) 1-0; Guruprasad Kulkarni (6.5) drew Sanjeev Mishra (6.5) 0.5-0.5; Kartik Kumbhar (6.5) drew Kshaunish Jaiswal (6.5) 0.5-0.5; AIM Saikat Nath (5.5) lost Ishaan Tendolkar (6.5) 0-1; Akash Wadhwani (6) drew Om Gada (6) 0.5-0.5; Dhruv Muthe (5) lost Saurabh Kulkarni (6) 0-1; Yash Kapadi (6) beat  Parv Hakani (5) 1-0; Shubham Baviskar (6) beat  Deepak Soni (5) 1-0

Photo Chess Champion: Arnav Kherdekar receiving the winning trophy and prize cheque from the hands of the dignitaries