Delhi’s Rohit Sharma wins title; Aadish of Mysuru finishes fifth

Rohit Sharma of Delhi drew his final round game against Ashish K. Desai and with 8 points from nine rounds clinched the title on the concluding day of the 22nd National Deaf Chess Championship 2019-20, conducted at Rahul Convention Hall here yesterday.

Four players, Sourabh Hans (Haryana), Ashish K. Desai (Gujarat), Vivek Watpade (Maharashtra) and S. Aadish (Karnataka) tied with 7.5 points each from 9 rounds, but based on their progressive tie-break scores secured the places from second to fifth respectively.

In the final round, S. Aadish drew with Sourabh Hans, while G. Palani of Karnataka drew with Vivek Watpade of Maharashtra in the top boards.

Final Placings: 1. Rohit Sharma (8), 2. Sourabh Hans (7.5-44.25), 3. Aashish K. Desai (7.5-42), 4. Vivek Watpade (7.5-38.50), 5. S. Aadish (7.5-35.25), 6. Karnam Vamsi (7-40.75), 7. G.Palani (7-40.75), 8. Bhushan Pawar (7-39.50), 9. P. Jayanth Sarathy (7-36), 10. Robert Gedam (7-34).

S. Aadish, a Mysurean who has a ELO rating of 1533 at present and finished fifth in the 22nd National Deaf Chess Championship 2019-20, has earned selection to represent the country in the World Deaf Championship.

He had wins over D. Mansi (Gujarat), Jyothi Meera (MP), Govind Rathi (MP), Girish Meena (Del), Bimla Sharma (Del), Robert Gedam, Bhushan Pawar (Mah) and drew with Sourab Hans of Haryana in the final round. He had a solitary loss against A. Noushad of Kerala in the fourth round.

Earlier in December 2019, Aadish represented India in the World Deaf Olympics held in Italy and secured the sixth place.