Kolkata's Sarbartho Mani fights back to win silver at FIDE World Cadet Cup, qualifies for World C'ship

KOLKATA: City boy Sarbartho Mani staged a great comeback to record another podium finish in a global chess event picking up silver in the Under-10 Open section of the Fide World Cadet Cup in Batumi, Georgia on Saturday.Mani ended with 8.5 points along with countrymate Sattwik Swain, who finished third. The duo fell just 0.5 points short of winner Rizat Ulan (9) of Kazakhstan in this 11-round tournament.

Mani, who recently earned the Fide Master tile by crossing 2300 Elo ratings, began as the top seed in the tournament. The 2311-rated player Mani remained unbeaten till the eighth round when he drew with Ulan. But the 10-year-old slipped from second to eighth spot after going down to Cadet Master Aiden Linyuan Li of USA in the ninth round.But the youngster staged a great comeback winning the last two rounds to grab a podium place.Mani, who was fifth at the start of the last round, won seven of his 11 games, drawing three and losing one in the competition. Mani, who won gold last year in this same meet, has now qualified for the eight-player World Cadet Championship scheduled later this year.Odisha boy Swain, who too made the Cadet Championship, was leading till the ninth round. He had to remain content with a third-place finish after drawing his last three games.