Woman candidate master

All India FIDE Rating Open: Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Kriti Patel (2 points) of Mumbai played a good tactical game to record her second win, defeating citymate Devansh Nisar (1 point) in a second-round match of the 1st All India FIDE Rating Open Chess Tournament 2024, hosted by South Mumbai Chess School, here on Saturday.

Playing with white pieces, the 18-year-old Kiriti, a student of SIES College in Navi Mumbai, started with the Albin Counter Gambit opening and won an early pawn. She maintained the advantage and exploited the situation and even though Devansh defended well she was in control. She finally went for the kill and checkmated Devansh on the 54th move to seal the win.

International Master (IM) Vikramaditya Kulkarni (2 points) of Kolhapur, playing with white pieces, scored another impressive win, beating Kirti Suryarao (1 point) of Thane in another second-round match on the top board. He is leading the standings along with several players including Kriti Patel, Arnav Kherdekar, Sanjeev Mishra, Samarth Patodekar and AIM Saikat Nath.