Mumbai, Apr 8 (IANS): Top seed, International Master (IM) Vikramaditya Kulkarni, former National B Chess Champion from Railways, made a winning start in the 6th SBI Life All India FIDE Rating Chess Tournament, which got underway at the Russian Centre for Science & Culture at Peddar Road, here on Saturday.

Kulkarni made short work of Ahaan Kataruka in a first-round encounter in the event being played over nine rounds of the Swiss League.

The trend continued on the remaining boards as 2nd seeded FIDE Master Saurav Khherdekar (ELO 2090) and third-seeded Raghav Srivathsav (ELO 2060) defeated their respective opponents, Aditya and Ganeshwar in the first round.

The 6-day event, which has attracted 140 players from across India, which includes 61 FIDE-rated players, is being organised by India Chess School under the aegis of the All India Chess Federation (AICF) and Maharashtra Chess Association (MCA).

Earlier, the event was declared open in a glittering ceremony which was presided over by Dr. Elena Remizova, Vice-Consul and Director, Abhay Daas, Divisional Head of SBI Life, International Master Sagar Shah, and P.B. Bhilare, Joint Secretary of Maharashtra Chess Association.

Key results:

Round 1: Vikramaditya Kulkarni (1) beat Ahaan (0), Aditya (0) lost to Saurav Khherdekar (1), Raghav beat Ganeshwar (0), Akshata (0) lost to Arnav (1), Sanjeev (1) beat Anant (0).