Candidate Master Calvin Prasad won 100 % of his 9 rounds to win the 2011 National Chess Championship. He played against a very strong pool which consisted of arch rival Candidate Master Manoj Kumar who had won the last 4 National Chess Championships, the unpredictable wizard of end-games Dr Neel Arora, Australia based veteran Dr Sanmogam Goundar, New Zealand based Asheesh Gautam (who is the only Fiji player to have upset an International Master), USP Champion Rajiv Raj, the bullet-brained Under-20 Champion Ronald Terubea, Goru Arvind, Jun Adricula and the aggressive Noel Adricula. It was an intense 5-day tournament which had several players vying for the top position in different rounds.

Tie-Breaks in the tournament were decided as follows: - Win over the other, Koya System, 2 Rapid Games x 25 minutes, 2 games x 5 minute Blitz, Blitz (Black must win in 6 minutes) in the same order.

At the end of the 2011 National Chess Championship:

1. The following 12-member female squad was announced to commence training for the 2012 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul: Amy Bale, Claudia Koroi, Esha Raicar, veteran Gloria Sukhu, Hilda Vukikimoala, Isabel Tabore, Jacqui Masilomani, Jeryka Prasad, Kabrina Terubea, Keiran Prasad Lyons, Wati Kado and Neelam Kumar

2. The following 6-member male squad was named in order of their tournament standings: Candidate Master Calvin Prasad (9/9), Candidate Master Manoj Kumar (7/9), Dr Sanmogam Goundar (6.5/9), Dr Neel Arora (5/9), Goru Arvind (4/9) and Ronald Terubea (3.5/9).

4-member teams for both male and female will be formally announced after the 2012 Fiji International Open at Peninsula Hotel (Suva) in May 2012. Both squads will undergo coaching sessions and chess clinics on a regular basis.

The overall competition in the 2011 National Championship was fierce in both the male and female divisions. The surprise package of the tournament was Under-20 Champion Ronald Terubea who scored an impressive 3.5 points while taking only 10-15 seconds per move like a blitz player. He managed to upset Dr Neel Arora, Asheesh Gautam and USP Champion Rajiv Raj with rapid moves that proved to be too aggressive for most players in the tournament. Young Ronald Terubea is possibly the best find of 2011, and it is hoped that he will continue to develop himself into a more deadly and positional player in time to come.

The second player who deserves mention for 2011 is Candidate Master Calvin Prasad who maintained powerful form to win both the Chess League and the National Championship without a single loss in both tournaments which were held in FIDE format.

The Fiji Chess Federation would also like to thank overseas-based players like Dr Sanmogam Goundar, Dr Jashint Maharaj, Roneel Sharma, Dinesh Parmeshwar and Asheesh Gautam for their valuable contributions during the year.