The 9th Rajnesh Parmeshwar Memorial Open Chess Championship was closely contested by some of Fiji's best players on Sunday 17 July 2011. CM Manoj Kumar stamped his supremacy in the tournament after he overpowered a strong challenge by CM Calvin Prasad with a convincing win. Manoj Kumar amassed 4 wins from his 5 games. Calvin Prasad followed closely in 2nd place with an equal number of wins as Manoj while veteran Dr Neil Arora came 3rd with 3 wins and 1 draw. The tournament was sponsored by Australia based Roneel Sharma, a former local chessplayer.

 

The competition was so fierce that it was difficult to find a clear winner until the very last round. At one stage, even champion Manoj Kumar fell prey to Dr Neil Arora's lethal endgame tactics to record his only loss in the tournament. However, Manoj Kumar regained form to defeat all other challengers become a deserving winner. He proved that chess is a war that does not end with momentary defeats.

 

Other players in Division A who showed promise were  Noel Adricula, Juan Clomera and Christopher Kumar who shared the 4th, 5th and 6th positions. In Division B, Ronald Terubea stunned his opponents with 4 wins and 1 draw to become the overall winner. He was followed by chess enthusiasts Wayne Areki and Ravinesh Singh at 4 points while the 4th position was taken by Juan Adricula, the brother of Noel Adricula. 

 

Hilda Vukikimoala continued her dominance in the female division by winning the Best Female Player Award. She was closely contested by Neelam Kumar for the same prize. The tournament winners shared exclusive trophies and cash prizes that tallied to $ 1000.00, and this made the Rajnesh Parmeshwar Memorial a tournament that led to celebrations in the chess arena from start to finish.

 

The next tournament is scheduled on 21 August 2011, and it is the FMF Under-20 Open Championship.