Savio, Swati emerge LIC West Zone chess tournament champions

NAGPUR: Savio Rebello of Nagpur in men's and Swati Ghate of Pune in women's emerged chess champions in the 50th LIC Western Zonal Chess and Carrom tournament, organized by Nagpur Division of LIC, which concluded at Hotel Tuli International on Friday.
Pune's Prakash Gaikwad and Medha Matkari reigned supreme in carrom to complete Pune's overall domination in the two-day meet. Divisions of LIC from Gujarat, Goa and Maharashtra participated in the annual tourney.
Savio overcame fancied players on way to clinch the title in style.Playing with white pieces in the final round, Savio, representing Nagpur Division, forced his Kolhapur opponent Dhananjay Inamdar to a quick draw to emerge champion for the first time with maximum six points.
Title favourite Swati scored an easy win in the seventh and final round against Sangeeta Jadhav of Mumbai to grab the crown. The former Indian chess star recorded wins in all her rounds to finish with maximum seven points.
In the carrom event, Gaikwad defeated his Pune counterpart SV Katnoriya 24-8, 25-11 in the final. In the semifinals held earlier, Gaikwad downed Mumbai's Pramod Jadhav 19-13, 25-10, while Katnoriya prevailed over Piyush Karia of Rajkot 25-0, 25-4. The third spot was claimed by Karia, ousting Jadhav.
Medha Matkari of Pune surprised Shilpa Palnitkar of Thane in a three-game thriller 25-11, 10-25, 22-4 to secure the women's carrom title.
P Dhar, regional manager (HRD), LICI, Western Zone, distributed the prizes. Senior divisional manager of LIC AK Jha, principal of STC R Debgupta, LIC sports promotion board member Mamata Sawane, secretary or organizing committee Milind Rambhad, chief referee of carrom Manohar Wankhede and chief arbiter of chess Pravin Pantawane were the guests of honour.