Rahul Ved claims Rapid title

Mumbai, Apr 16 (UNI) Rahul Ved of Mumbai today beat formidable Prasanna Iyer to clinch the Rapid title in the Sankalpan Summer Chess Festival 2007.

The tournament was organised by King's Chess Academy and conducted by the Bombay Chess Association at the Andheri Sports Complex here.

Seeded 15th, Ved with a rating of 2079, earned 8 points to pip favourite and top seed IM Vikramaditya Kamble, who finished second with 7.5 points.

Mumbai's Kamble, with the highest rating of 2339in the tournament beat Sholapur's Sumukh Gaikwad, while Shashikant Kutwal overcame Prasanna Rao for third place.

The six-day tournament, which concludes on April 20, has attracted 90 participants including 44 international rated players.

Rapid Open: 1. Rahul Ved (8 pts), 2. Vikramaditya Kamble (7.5), 3. Shashikant Kutwal (7.5), 4. Prasanna Rao (7), 5. Rakesh Kulkarni (7), 6. P.T. Date (7), 7. Sagar Shah (6.5), 8. Gopal Rathod, 9.

Sumukh Gaikwad, Sholapur (6), 10. Anirudha Deshpande (Pune).

Boys: U-16: Aditya Singh (5.5); U-14: Karan Sharma; U-12: Tanuj Dayal; U-10: Samyak Baid; U-8: Shubh Shah.

Girls: U-16: Shilpi Jain; U-14: Bhakti Juikar; U-12: Devika Kelkar (Dapoli); U-10: Parnali Dharia.

UNI