Nat’l Team Chess C’ship kicks off with clean sweeps

Raipur: Top seeds Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) and Airport Authority of India (AAI) started their campaigns with dominant victories in the opening round of the Chief Minister's Trophy 45th National Team Chess Championship 2026 on Monday. In the open category, RSPB A secured a clinical 4-0 sweep against Haryana A. Grandmasters (GM) Visakh NR, Deep Sengupta, Mitrabha Guha, and Shyaamnikhil P won their respective matches to ensure a perfect score for the top-seeded side.The AAI team also remained unbeaten in the first round, overmatching the Defence Accounts Sports Control Board with a 4-0 result. IMs Aditya Dhingra, Harshavardhan GB, Sriram Adarsh Uppala, and Shahil Dey secured the wins. Uttar Pradesh A overcame Chhattisgarh C 3-1, with Arnav Agarwal, Candidate Master (CM) Prakhar Tripathi, and Arena Grandmaster (AGM) Gopal Krishna Maheshwari winning their rounds. The championship moves into the second round with RSPB and AAI emerging as early frontrunners.First round results RSPB A beat Haryana A: 4-0; RSPB B beat West Bengal B: 4-0; AAI beat Defence Accounts Sports Control Board: 4-0; Tamil Nadu B beat Odisha C: 3.5-0.5; Telangana A beat Jharkhand A: 3.5-0.5; Uttar Pradesh A beat Chhattisgarh C: 3-1; Tamil Nadu A beat KIIT University: 3.5-0.5; Puducherry beat Uttarakhand A: 2.5-1.5