Madan Krishna Kayastha claims NECOS 2nd Fide Rating Chess Trophy

 Madan Krishna Kayastha of Golden Gate College on Saturday claimed the title of Second NECOS Nationwide FIDE Rating Chess Tournament held in the capital. Kayastha finished on top despite losing to his colleague CM Rupesh Jaiswal in the tenth and final round as his nearest rival Punyaman Karmacharya of Gajurmukhi Club also met a similar fate. 

Kayastha collected a total of 8.5 points to bag the highest cash prize of Rs 50,000 in domestic chess. Former national champion Karmacharya lost to Krishna Thapa of his own club in the last round to finish with 7.5 points.

Thapa, meanwhile, took second position following the victory over Karmacharya. Though he was level on eight points with Jaiswal, Thapa finished ahead of the latter on the basis of SB point tie-breaker. Thapa bagged Rs 30,000 while Jaiswal received Rs 18,000. 

FIDE Master and former national champion Bilamlal Shrestha finished fourth after he shared point with Surbir Lama, also a former national champion, in the final round. Niraj Niraula of Jhapa defeated former national champion Badrilal Nepali. Despite collecting 7.5 points apiece, Lama, Niraula, Karmacharya and Prakash Nepal finished fifth through eighth respectively.

GoldenGate Chess Club players

Similarly, Dharam Bahadur Lama of host NECOS, FIDE Master Sujendra Prasad Shrestha, Janardan Shrestha, Nabin Tandukar, Prem Krishna Maharjan and Shyam Sundar Shrestha secured ninth through 14th positions respectively with equal 7.5 points. Bivek Thing of Times International College finished in the 15th position with 6.5 points.

Binita Kapali of Kathmandu secured first position in the women´s section while Purnima Jaiswal of Golden Gate College stood second. Nabin Jaiswal of Golden Gate took home the best player´s title in the college category.

In the zonal section Rajendra Langwa of Mechi, Maniram Langwa of Koshi, Nabin Kumar Chaudhary of Sagarmatha, Himal Lama of Janakpur, Shyam Lal Das of Narayani, Bhagwati Prasad Sharma of Bagmati, Mohan Singh Pradhan of Gandaki, DB Karki of Dhaulagiri, Saurav Prasad Pradhan of Lumbini, Uttam Reule of Bheri, Dirgharaj Joshi of Seti, and Bhim Dutta Pandey of Mahakali won the best player awards.

Laba Kumar Shrestha of Sarlahi won the best player award in the veterans´ above 60 years age category, Gyanendra Maharjan and Kamal Shrestha of Kathmandu took the honors in the rating category while Nawaraj Humagain clinched the top spot in the unrated category.

CPN-UML leader Raghuji Panta, among others, distributed prizes to the winners of the event that featured a total of 112 players.