Mumbai boy Mullick wins Asian schools U-7 chess title

Mumbai boy Raahil Mullick clinched the FIDE Candidate Master title by winning the Under-7 open category at the 10th Asian Schools Chess Championships that concluded in Taichung, Taiwan last week.
Raahil, with a rating of 1326, finished on top of a 20-strong bunch after upsetting top seed, Amir Amirul Faiz (rating 1472) of Malaysia, a media release said here today.
Both the boys finished with seven points with the Indian boy placed first and the Malaysian second. Another Indian boy -- Arjun Sidharth S (rating 1144) ended up fifth with 5.5 points, as per the Asian Chess Federation's website.
Raahil emerged on top of the group that saw battles for top position among players from India, Malaysia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka. He played nine rounds over seven days under the Swiss League system, employing an attacking style of play.

Among other Indian participants, Potluri Sreepatha clinched the under-13 girls crown as the top seed with seven points, while Gunjal Chopdekar grabbed the girls under-9 title and Chinnum Vyshnavi finished third, as per the website.
Bowmini Mounika Akshaya led a clean sweep of the top three spots in the under-11 girls section with eight points followed by Sweta Ana Braganca (7.5) and Shreya Smruti Mohanty (6.5) in second and third place.
Karthik Kumar Pradeep ended up fourth in under-11 open section and Bhagat Kush was runner-up in the under-5 open category.
The tournament, which attracted 203 players from 14 countries, was organised by the Chinese Taipei Chess Association under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation and FIDE.