Ansh seals 2nd dist online blitz crown, father-son make unique appearance

NAGPUR: Nine days after he missed the yellow metal by a whisker, fourth seed Ansh Dhanvij came out all guns blazing to wrest the second Nagpur District Online Blitz chess championship title on Sunday.
The second edition of the nine-round event, conducted exclusively for city players, was played from home in the shortest format. The two-hour online meet organized by the Nagpur District Chess Association (NDCA) on the server of lichess.org saw an excellent response as 58 city youngsters moved their pawns and pieces on computer screen.
The tournament also attracted a unique appearance of father-son playing inside a room on their respective laptops. Top seeded Fide Master (FM) Akash Thakur and his nine year-old son Aarit made their presence felt by finishing the meet collecting six and five points respectively.
The 15-year-old Ansh Dhanvij, however, remained unbeaten to pocket the crown with a round remaining. As per the final standings, Ansh congregated 8.5 points. He posted victories in eight straight rounds and drew the final board against second placed Dishank Bajaj.
Ansh recorded victories over Mohak Bhagchandani, Sanil Upasani, Shraddha Bajaj, Sumedh Ramteke, Mayank Ranade, Yash Ingolikar before surprising higher ranked Shumbam Lakudkar and Akash Thakur.
Three players including Dishank, second seed Shubham Lakudkar and Arena Grand Master (AGM) R Shivasubramanian had a tie for the second position at seven points each. On the basis of better progressive score, Dishank finished second as Shubham stood third.
Chief arbiter Swapnil Bansod told TOI that "the final standings are subject to the report of fair play commission." The NDCA informed that the result will be intimated after getting the anti-cheating report.
"The response in the second edition was excellent. As compared to our first event, this time we had double entries," he added.
FINAL STANDINGS
1 Ansh Dhanvij (8.5, 46.5), 2 Dishank Bajaj (7, 41.5), 3 Shubham Lakudkar (7, 40.5), 4 R Shivasubramanian (7, 35.5), 5 Yash Ingolikar (6.5, 32.75).