Sakshi Chitlange cleansweeps Sangli!

by Avathanshu Bhat - 07/05/2018

Sangli has been continuing its great work on chess for 51 years now. This year, WIM Sakshi Chitlange ruled with first place. Apart from the Late Shri Babukaka Shirgaonkar Memorial, she also recently won the Women's Championship held in Sangli. The girl from Maharashtra has been performing consistently under the watchful eye of her coach - father Dinesh Chitlange. She recently also won the Shiv Chhatrapati award and also the outstanding achievement award by AAI. And did you know, she is a fantastic singer! In this article by Avathanshu Bhat, you get to know more about this amazing emerging talent in women's chess.

She is on a roll, by winning her last tournaments with grace and surprising ease. Yes, 17-year-old Sakshi Chitlange is on a rampage, with her recent win at the 51st Late Shri Babukaka Shirgaonkar Memorial in Sangli. The tournament in question has been going for 51 years now, and is the place where many chess players flock, where some of them discovered their talent and went on to become legends. Sakshi played in the same hall where players like Anand, Vidit, Harikrishna and Sasikiran among many others unearthed their talent.

Sakshi finished first by the second tiebreaks. Started 4th, finished 1st!|Photo: Vivek Sohani

A humble girl from the city of Aurangabad, Sakshi finished first with what seemed like no competition at all. Before this however, Sakshi won the Women's Championship in Sangli. She came second at the Asian Youth 2017 in Uruguay and is the winner of the Shiv Chhatrapati Award, along with her father, Mr. Dinesh Chitlange. The father-daughter duo is proving to be an amazing team. Sakshi is pursuing graduation in arts. She has a keen passion in singing as well. She is truly a champion! Sakshi is blessed to have her father as a coach. Sakshi and Dinesh are the first father-daughter duo in the field of chess to have received the Shiv Chatrapati award.

Seems like the chess came from her father and the singing came from her mother!|Photo: Vivek Sohani

Know more about Sakshi in the interview below. Don't miss the wonderful singing nearing the end!

Interview with Sakshi Chitlange

Here is the game which Sakshi talked about in her interview: the last round game at the World Youth Chess Championship against Julia Antolak annotated by Sakshi herself.

Also do look at this bonus game of Sakshi-Pimpalkhare:

The tournament in question went well, with around 190 participants. After Sakshi, the runners-up respectively were Vedant Pimpalkhare and Kiran Panditrao.

Vedant Pimpalkhare finished second and gained 42 Elo points | Photo: Vedant's Facebook profile

Kiran Panditrao has great knowledge of technology and how it affects the game of chess. It's wonderful that even at the age of 53, he has kept his passion for the game going!

Young Aditya Savalkar had a good tournament as he finished eighth.

12-year-old WCM Kriti Patel finished 17th and had a great tournament, increasing 53 points.

Final Ranking List:

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	Gr	FED	RtgI	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	4	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	U18	w		IND	2122	Mah	8,5	0,5	63,5	68,5	56,75	7
2	9		Pimpalkhare Vedant				IND	1943	Mah	8,5	0,5	62,0	66,0	53,75	8
3	8		Kiran Panditrao				IND	1958	CRSB	8,0	0,0	64,5	69,5	53,50	7
4	3	FM	Dutta Joydeep				IND	2125	Wes	8,0	0,0	63,5	68,0	52,50	6
5	6		Mohite Ranveer				IND	2051	Mah	8,0	0,0	60,5	65,0	50,50	8
6	14		Jail Digambar	U14			IND	1751	Mah	7,5	0,0	61,5	66,0	46,75	7
7	17		Mulla Nihalahamad				IND	1688	MAH	7,5	0,0	56,0	60,5	44,00	7
8	31		Aditya Savalkar	U14			IND	1471	Mah	7,5	0,0	55,5	59,0	41,00	7
9	19		Mishra Sanjeev				IND	1645	Mah	7,5	0,0	54,5	59,0	42,25	6
10	7		Gandhi Anish				IND	2043	Mah	7,0	0,0	63,5	68,0	44,50	7
11	15		Bhosale Shriraj	U16			IND	1739	Mah	7,0	0,0	61,0	65,5	43,00	6
12	29		Gogate Shirish	S60			IND	1507	Mah	7,0	0,0	59,5	62,0	39,50	7
13	12		Inamdar Sameer	U18			IND	1834	Mah	7,0	0,0	58,0	62,5	41,75	6
14	33		Ishan Sanjay Pagi	U14			IND	1466	Goa	7,0	0,0	58,0	61,0	39,50	5
15	5		Samrat Ghorai				IND	2085	Wes	7,0	0,0	57,0	62,0	40,50	6
16	13		Shah Vishwa	U18	w		IND	1773	Mah	7,0	0,0	57,0	61,5	40,50	5
17	47	WCM	Kriti Mayur Patel	U12	w		IND	1371	Mah	7,0	0,0	55,5	59,0	37,00	7
18	18		Sawyan Baran De				IND	1660	Wes	7,0	0,0	54,0	59,0	39,50	7
19	21		Ankur Mahesh Gokhale	U16			IND	1629	Mah	7,0	0,0	53,0	57,5	38,50	5
20	43		Porob Vraj	U14			IND	1387	Goa	7,0	0,0	53,0	57,5	37,75	6

Complete list

Sangli is a wonderful platform for young kids. They have a variety of tournaments for all. Running a tournament for 51 years on end with the same vigor and passion is no joke. We are thankful to the Shirgaonkar and Padsalgikar family for their tremendous contribution to chess society.

For a detailed report about The legacy of Late Shri Babukaka Shirgaonkar Memorial, click the link here!

We thank arbiter Vivek Sohani for some important pictures!