Candidate Master (CM) Suhaani Lohia of Mumbai clinched a silver medal in the Girls category of the 32nd National Under-9 Chess Championship 2018, which concluded in Ranchi, Jharkhand on Sunday.
The 9-year-old Suhaani, a student of Dhirubhai Ambani School, dished out some clever performance and earned commendable results in the 11 rounds to end with a tally of nine points. The talented Mumbai chess prodigy was tied with Sneha Halder from West Bengal, who ultimately won the gold medal on account of a better tie-breaker score.
Meanwhile, Candidate Master (CM) Kush Bhagat from Mumbai also had a good tournament in the Under-9 Open category and narrowly missed a podium place, finishing a creditable fourth from 274 participants. The nine-year-old Kush, a student of American School, who is the first and youngest Indian to win triple Gold medals in international events on foreign soil, was unbeaten in the 11 rounds competition. He also created a big upset defeating the top seed Ilamparthi A.R. of Tamil Nadu, who eventually emerged champion. Kush won seven rounds and drew four to finish with nine points.
Both, Suhaani and Kush are trainees with the South Mumbai Chess Academy (SMCA) under the guidance of renowned coach FM Balaji Guttula.
“This was Suhaani's best performance to date at the National level. She has now won five medals in the U-5, U-7 and U-9 categories at the National Championship and National Schools Championships since 2014,” informed Balaji.
“Kush is also exceptionally talented and the matured game he played in the last round to outplay the top seed Iilamparthy of Tamil Nadu, who is more than 400 ELO points higher ranked than Kush. This proves that Kush can match the best and compete in the bigger league,” Balaji further said.
Suhaani, who was seeded sixth in the tournament, played confidently and registered some fine wins against stronger opponents. Her best result was in the penultimate round when she defeated Shefali A.N., who is a three-time National and Asian Schools and Commonwealth champion, in a grueling game that lasted over three and a half hours.
Suhaani is now selected to represent India in the World Cadet Chess Championship 2019 to be held in Weifang, China; the World Cadet Rapids & Blitz Championship 2019 to be held in Minsk, Belarus, and in the Asian Youth Chess Championship 2019.
