Ex-Olympiad rep Prashil Prakash revived himself with some glorious combinations of play in the 2024 Vodafone Fiji Rapid Chess tournament at the University of Fiji in Lautoka.

Prakash was coming-off as an unbeaten champion with a score of 6/7 that included draws with Peter Ricardo of Swami Vivekananda College and William Robert Raymond Bennion.

The next three winners were Bennion, Christian Gonzalez and Krish Sinha, who were all tied at 5.5/7 to come second, third and fourth. Rajnesh Sant secured the fifth prize at 4/7.

The women’s division was won by Latileta Masau of Dudley Intermediate School with 4/7, while Useli Herath of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Primary School came second with 3.5/7.

Young talents

Debutante Veronica Eremina, Nishita Sinha of Swami Vivekananda College and Mercy Gogoi secured third, fourth and fifth place with an equal score of 3/7.

“Prashil is one of our strongest chess players from the Western Division who represented Fiji in the 44th World Chess Olympiad in Chennai two years ago,” said Fiji Chess Federation general secretary Goru Arvind.

“The tournament was filled with Primary and Secondary School competitors from the West, and we can see new chess players in every tournament.”

Upcoming talent Lionel Vaurasi of Yat Sen Primary School propelled himself above much older competitors to win the Under-20 division at a solid 5.5/7, ahead of second and third placed Shivnesh Dutt and Raj Johan who tallied 5/7 each.

Peter Ricardo and John Taake of Swami Vivekananda College came fourth and fifth with an equal score of 4.5/7.

The U14 division was topped by Abhiru Herath of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Primary School and Ricardo Luis Iv Corpuz of Gurukul Primary School at first and second place with 5/7 each.

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