Hamal, Napit win

Kathmandu, November 30:

Participant of the Chess Olympiad Manish Hamal started his campaign with a win over Mani Dangi on the first round of the second Shankhadhar Shakhwa Memorial Nationwide Open Chess Tournament today.

Two other Chess Olympiad players Sujendra Prasad Shrestha and Balram Napit along with defending champion Badri Lal Nepal, former national champions Keshav Shrestha and Rajendra Prasad Shrestha also won their first round matches. Sujendra overcame Krishna Kakchhapati, Balram eased past Puja Simkhada, Keshav outplayed Krishna Hari Shrestha, Badri Lal beat Krishna Chaulagain and Rajendra Prasad saw off Lekh Bahadur Thapa.

Other first round winners include Monalisa Khumbu, Tara Ghale, Bilam Lal Shrestha, Uttam Raj Thapa, R Bajracharya, Rupesh Jaiswal, Sitaram Agrahari, Niraj Niraula, Rajan Khatri, Rabindra Shakya, Ashmita Adhikari and Bhawani Limbu. Shanta Thapa and Bina Jaiswal played a draw.

A total of 118 players including 18 ladies are taking part in the tournament. Earlier, Nepal Chess Association president Rajesh Hari Joshi feted the recently concluded Chess Olympiad participants Balram, Manish and Sujendra. Nepal climbed up to 108th in World ranking from 132 after the Olympiad.