Sikkim Chess Association has felicitated its players here on Thursday for their outstanding performances in two recent chess tournaments held outside the state. SCA executive members congratulated the players for winning trophies, medal and laurels for the state.
A five-member SCA team had participated in Rautahat International Open Chess Tournament held from October 8 to 12 at Rautahat in Nepal. Thendup Tamang secured the second position and received the cash prize of Rs 40,000, Rahul Gurung finished on the third position and awarded with cash prize of Rs 30,000 and Rohit Gurung secured 7th position and bagged the cash prize of Rs 20,000. Likewise, Bhoj Bahadru Chettri won the first prize in Best Elo Rating 1400-1599 category and Rick Gupta came third in U-15 category.
The same team also participated in Jalpalguri Chess Festival Open Rapid Tournament held from October 21 to 23 at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal. Thendup Tamang again secured the second position, Rahul Gurung finished fourth and Rohit Gurung secured the tenth position. Rick Gupta finished the tournament on the ninth position in the U-15 category. Despite good performance, Chewang Dorjee could not win any prize.
While congratulating the team members, SCA general secretary Mahendra Dhakal appreciated their performances in these tournaments and conveyed best wishes to them for upcoming chess tournaments. He encouraged the chess players to continue with their practice and hard work to keep the name of Sikkim on the top in upcoming national tournaments.
SCA players have been preparing for upcoming U-19 National Chess Tournament to be held from November 28 to December 6 at New Delhi and Senior National Chess Tournament to be held in December at Jammu.