Shaunak Badole, the reigning National U-13 Champion, clinched both the Rapid and Blitz titles in the GH Raisoni Memorial Maharashtra State selection chess tournament which concluded at Shraddha Park on Sunday.In the rapid format, Shaunak remained unbeaten to emerge champion, scoring 8.5 points from the nine-round tournament. FM Siddhant Gawai of Nagpur finished second with eight points. Three players — Yuval Suil Mohurle, Jay Sawalakhe and Gaurav Balkiwal — scored 7.5 points. Based on the tie-break score, Suil completed the podium finish.In the blitz tournament, Shaunak kept his slate clean to emerge champion by winning all the nine rounds he played. Kushgra Patel and Jay Sawalakhe won silver and bronze medals respectively.Later, prizes were distributed by Shekahr Suryawanshi. On the occasion, Jayant Katdare, Bhushan Shriwas, Ajinkya Pingale, SS Soman and others were present.The top two finishers of both the rapid and blitz tournaments will represent Maharashtra in the forthcoming national championship.
