Mandar Pradip Lad scores a hat-trick of winning Late Shri Chandrakant Naik Memorial Rapid Rating Open

by Shahid Ahmed - 24/10/2025

The reigning Goa State Under-19 Open champion, Mandar Pradip Lad scored a perfect 9/9 to win 8th Late Shri Chandrakant Naik Memorial Rapid Rating Open 2025. This is the third consecutive year he has won this event with a 100% score. In 2023, he scored 8/8 and in 2024 he did 9/9. He finished a whopping 1.5 points ahead of the rest. Five players - Ravindra Nikam, Saras Summer Powar, Aarav Chopdekar, Sagar G Shenoy and Rishikesh Parab scored 7.5/9 each. They secured second to sixth place respectively according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹100000. The top three prizes were ₹20000, ₹12000 and ₹8000 along with a trophy each. This is Mandar's tenth overall tournament triumph of the year. He won eight of them with a perfect score. Photo: Shekhar Sirsat

Mandar wins the tournament with a 100% score for the third consecutive year

The top seed of the tournament, Mandar Pradip Lad made a fantastic start of winning eight games in-a-row. He had a full point lead heading into the last round. Chaitanya V Gaonkar, Saras Summer Powar, Rishikesh Parab, Sagar G Shenoy and Arnav Chopdekar were at 7/8 each. Even though a draw would have sufficed for him to become a clear champion, Mandar went for the maximum. Chaitanya lost to Mandar and the latter became the champion for the third consecutive year with a 100% score. Ravindra Nikam defeated Arthav Shirodker to secure second place. Saras drew against Rishikesh to finish third. Mandar won another rapid rating open a fortnight later. It will be mentioned in detail in a separate report.

Champion - Mandar Pradip Lad 9/9 | Photo: Shekhar Sirsat

Second Runner-up - Saras Summer Powar 7.5/9 | Photo: Chess Guru Goa Academy

Mandar Pradip Lad scored a perfect 9/9, finished 1.5 points ahead of the rest and gained 20.4 Elo rating points

A total of 282 players took part from all over the country and one from Israel. The two-day nine round Rapid Rating Open tournament was organized by Quepem Taluka Chess Association at Govt. College of Arts Commerce and Science Quepem Goa in Goa on 4th and 5th October 2025. The time control of the event was 25 minutes + 5 seconds increment per move.

Final standings

Rk.	SNo	Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB5
1	1	Lad, Mandar Pradip		IND	2191	Bardez-Goa	9	52,5	56,5	56,5	9
2	11	Nikam, Ravindra		IND	1771	Maharashtra	7,5	54	57	44,3	7
3	18	Saras, Summer Powar	U13	IND	1677	Salcete-Goa	7,5	52,5	55,5	44,8	6
4	30	Chopdekar, Aarav	U15	IND	1598	Mormugao-Goa	7,5	49	53	43,8	7
5	14	Sagar, G Shenoy		IND	1751	Maharashtra	7,5	49	52,5	41,8	7
6	7	Parab, Rishikesh		IND	1827	Mormugao-Goa	7,5	48,5	52,5	42,8	7
7	3	Joshua, Mark Telles	U11	IND	1955	Salcete-Goa	7	53	57,5	42,5	7
8	4	Chaitanya, V Gaonkar	U15	IND	1952	Bicholim-Goa	7	53	57,5	41	7
9	5	Colaco, Reuben		IND	1945	Salcete-Goa	7	53	57	40,5	7
10	10	Aarth, Siddhesh Shenvi Karapurkar	U15	IND	1776	Bardez-Goa	7	49,5	53,5	39	7
11	8	Nadar, Thangraj		IND	1783	Maharashtra	7	49,5	53,5	38,5	7
12	20	Shubh, Vishnu Borkar	U13	IND	1651	Salcete-Goa	7	49	51	38	7
13	19	Katkar, Atharv		IND	1663	Salcete-Goa	7	48	52	39	7
14	16	Tanvi, Vasudev Hadkonkar	S18	IND	1719	Tiswadi-Goa	7	47,5	51	37,5	7
15	22	Gaude, Sachin		IND	1646	Ponda-Goa	7	46,5	51,5	38,5	7