Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, April 27: Aparajita Gochhikar of Orissa bagged the silver medal by emerging second in the women’s category of the World Amateur Chess Championships, which concluded at the Halkidiki Islands in Greece, Wednesday. The tournament was played April 18 to 26. By finishing second, the Orissa girl, who currently works at KIIT, directly qualified for World Amateur Chess Championships-2017 in Italy.
Aparajita finished second best with 6.5 points from nine rounds with five wins, three draws and one loss. In the ninth and the final round, she forced Tqavadze Giorgi of Georgia to share points with her. The Georgian incidentally has an Elo rating difference of 300-plus points with Aparajita.
By finishing second Aparajita, who also finished third in the Open category (bronze medal) achieved the Candidate Masters title. She started the event ranked 57th, but in the end overcame superior opponents to finish with the gold medal in a competition which had 64 participants. Aparajita also got 85 rating points from the tournament, the highest among all the competitors.
Khulan Enkhsaikhan of Mangolia emerged champion in the open category and got the Fide Master (FM) title. MP Ajith of Tamil Nadu finished runner-up.
Aparajita expressed satisfaction over her performance. “I am happy with my show. To start at 57th and then win the silver makes me feel very happy,” she stated over mail. “I want to thank my parents and Dr. Achyuta Samanta, the founder of KIIT and KISS. Without their help and support, I wouldn’t have been able to come this far.”
