17 Players Share Lead Across Six Categories At Maharashtra Schools Chess Championship

Mumbai: Seventeen players maintained an impressive score of four points from four rounds across six categories at the SBI Life Maharashtra State Schools Chess Championship 2026, being held at Rustomjee Cambridge International School, Dahisar (West), on Thursday.

The Under-7 Open category witnessed a five-way tie at the top, with Ivaan Dubey (1545), Advik Verma (1447), Aarush Abhishek Malkar (1469), Aksh Shrivastava (1513) and Yuvansh Nimja (1453) sharing the lead on four points each.

In the Under-7 Girls section, top seed Liyaa Krishnan (1558) and second seed Tanishka Bhandari (1477) maintained their winning streaks to share the lead.

Four players emerged as joint leaders in the Under-11 Open category, with Agastya N. Kasat (1527), Priyansh Ajay Jain (1514), AFM Shivansh Amit Karia (1506) and Kaushik Ajinkya Rayate (1490) scoring four points each.

The Under-11 Girls section saw top seed Tvesha Ashish Jain (1697) and second seed Aashvi Ankit Agarwal (1634) sharing the lead after four rounds.

In the Under-15 Open category, Vihaan Anupam Agrawal (1858) and Yuvraj Avadhesh Pratap Singh (1690) emerged as joint leaders. Vihaan defeated AFM Aarush Sarode (1704), while Yuvraj overcame Hrishaan Singh Sajwan (1724). Top seed Samvid Pasbola (1912), AFM Rayan Merchant (1822) and Varad More (1697) remained in contention with 3½ points each.

The Under-15 Girls category witnessed Khanak Paharia (1588) and Mahua Vighnesh Deshpande (1527) sharing the lead with four points each, while top seed AFM Mysha Perwez (1991) remained in contention with three points.

Organised and conducted by Indian Chess School, the championship has attracted 417 players across six FIDE-rated categories in its first phase, covering the Under-7, Under-11 and Under-15 age groups in both Open and Girls sections.