This story is from December 18, 2017

Raunak ends year on a high, wins Blitz bronze in Croatia

Twelve-year-old Raunak Sadhwani gave a fine end to his impressive performance of 2017 by winning a bronze medal in the Zadar Open chess tournament in Croatia on Sunday.
Raunak ends year on a high, wins Blitz bronze in Croatia
Twelve-year-old Raunak Sadhwani won a bronze medal in the Zadar Open chess tournament (BCCL Photo)
NAGPUR: Twelve-year-old Raunak Sadhwani gave a fine end to his impressive performance of 2017 by winning a bronze medal in the Zadar Open chess tournament in Croatia on Sunday.
The city chess prodigy added yet another feather in the shortest format of chess by earning a podium finish in the blitz event of the international tourney. The 13-round event witnessed participation of 53 masters from 12 countries including three Grandmasters, eight International Masters and 10 Fide Masters.
With eight wins, including two upsets over IMs, three draws and two defeats Raunak collected nine points to make his presence felt in a big way.
On his way to the third-place finish, Raunak also gained 137 rating points in blitz.
In a chat with TOI Raunak said, “I am very happy with my performance in this blitz event, but I wish to improve my game further and I am working hard on it.”
Giving an excellent start to his campaign, 29th seed Raunak surprised third seed Croatian FM Jakic Ivan Croatia in the opening round.
In the following round, Raunak failed to utilize his opening advantage and went down fighting against seed No 15 Felix Blohberger of Austria. As a fighter that he is, the youngest FM of the city came back stronger with the black pieces to upset seed No 5 Martin Cerveny of Czech Republic and FM David Gavrilescu of Romania in the third and fourth rounds respectively.
Raunak held 9th seeded IM Baumegger Siegfried of Austria in the fifth round. In the following two rounds, he suffered defeats against second seeded GM Jovanic Ognjen of Croatia and FM Burovic Ismet from Bosnia.

Despite the defeats, the Centre Point School, Katol Road, student once again regained the momentum by posting victories in five consecutive rounds to regain the top position. Raunak defeated Croatian masters Lukic Tomislav, Tomas Ante and 6th seed Leon Livaic before surprising Slovakian 7th seeded Mazur Stefan and seed No 8 Reich Thomas of Germany.
In a battle for supremacy, Raunak was up against top seed GM Cvitan Ognjen from Croatia in the final round and the city master made most of his opening advantage with the white pieces to sign the peace treaty with the 61-year-old.
He acknowledged the support of school and coach. “For this performance and support I wish to thank my school principal Shilpee Ganguly madam, coach Swapnil Dhopade sir and parents, who are my pillars of strength. Without their support and motivation I cannot achieve this success,” he said.
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