NAGPUR: Raunak Sadhwani scored 10.5 points of the possible 12 to register a thrilling win in the Tiger Cup blitz chess championship which concluded in Vladivostok, Russia, on Sunday.
As icing on the cake, the 16-year-old youngest Grandmaster of Maharashtra clinched the bronze medal in the rapid format for his second podium finish in the three-day international rating event.
In the invitational blitz tourney, Raunak was the only participating Indian master, and Nagpur's first GM had a long and tiring 18-hour journey from the city to Vladivostok - a port city in Russia near the borders with China and North Korea - to take part in the event.
After the two-day round-robin rapid meet, where Raunak collected 4.5 points of the possible seven to clinch bronze, the 10th ranked junior blitz master in the world played a tiring 12-round tournament in the fastest format of chess.
In the day-long event where a total of 104 masters from across globe were vying for honours, the 2616 Elo Raunak posted victories in 10 rounds, drew a board and lost a game to register a table-top finish with two others collecting 10.5 points.
Based on the Buchholz Tie-Break system, the second seeded Raunak brought home a yellow metal and a glittering Tiger trophy.
The tournament was organized to create awareness to preserve and save tigers. Raunak, who comes from the tiger land in the heart of India was "glad to contribute in the 'Save Tigers' awareness campaign."
He said, "Tiger is my all-time favourite creature. There is a similarity between tigers and chess players, as both love to do checkmate. It was a very long, tiring journey to Vladivostok of around 18 hours from India, but I would say all is well that ends well. Becoming champion is always a special moment. I am really happy with my performance in the fastest format of chess. Playing Blitz requires a lot of energy, and I am happy I did my best."
For his title-winning effort, Raunak earned 22.8 rating points to take his live rating to 2639 Elo.
