Nihal Sarin, Rakshitta Ravi and D Gukesh win gold medals at Online World Youth and Cadet Rapid Chess Championships

It was a memorable treble for India as Grandmaster Nihal Sarin, Woman International Master Rakshitta Ravi and D Gukesh won the titles in their respective categories in the FIDE Online World Youth and Cadet Rapid Championships on Tuesday. While the highly-rated Sarin (Elo 2620) beat Armenian GM Shant Sargyan 1.5-0.5 in the Open under-18 section final, Rakshitta Ravi also won by a similar margin against China’s Song Yuxin in the girls under-16 final. The 16-year old Sarin won a marathon 58-move second game after honours were shared in the first. Meanwhile, Rakshitta after a draw in the first game, won the second in 39 moves to emerge champion. Earlier in the semifinals, Sarin had beaten Italian Francesco Sonis 1.5-0.5. The Indian player was initially scheduled to take on Narayana Hepler Ramirez in the semifinals. However, Ramirez was found in violation of the tournament’s fair-play policy and thus was disqualified as a result of which Sarin faced IM Sonis. Also, Gukesh made it three wins for India when he beat Volodar Murzin 2-1 in the final of the under-14 category. Earlier, Gukesh beat FM Denis Lazavik by the same margin in the semifinals. In the under-10 boys section, Mrinmoy Rajkhowa missed a couple of opportunities and crashed out in the semifinal, with a loss to American Andy Woodward. The games were played in best of two Rapid 15 mins + 10 seconds increment in the tournament where a 1-1 tie will result in Armageddon (sudden death tie-break games).