Rai wins as Indians dominate Lalitpur Cup

KATHMANDU, July 17: Indian IM (International Master) Saptarishi Rai won the title of the First Lalitpur Cup International Open Rating Chess Tournament on Saturday as Indian players dominated the tournament with top six positions. There are only three Nepali players in the top 10 list.







Rai defeated another Indian IM Santu Mandal in the 10th round on Saturday and collected eight points. Trailokya Nanda also has equal eight points but Rai topped the table on the basis of progressive score. Rai and Nanda both bagged Rs 35,000 each. [break]



Manish Hamal remained on top among Nepali players. Manish had a chance to secure third position in the tournament but he shared points with Indian player Prantik Rai in the 10th round on Saturday and lingered in seventh position.



FM Akshat Khamparia and Rupankar Nath of India have equal 7.5 points but Khamparia remained in third position on the basis of progressive score. They received Rs 12,500 each.



All six players, who were within the fifth to 10th positions, have seven points each. Santu Mandal, Shankar Majumdar, Manish Hamal, Niraj Niraula, Saubhik Chakraborty and Surendra Prasad secured the fifth to 10th positions respectively on the basis of progressive score. However, they all received Rs 4,667 each.

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