Ashirwad wins

 Kendrapara, Jan 9: Top seed Ashirwad Swain of Nayagarh registered two emphatic victories in the Kendrapada Open Chess Championship which was inaugurated at Kendrapada Autonomous College here, Friday.

In the first round, Ashirwad beat Bibek Kumar Sahu of Khurda easily, while in the second round he earned a facile victory against Ranjan Mallick of Jajpur. As many as 109 players including 57 international rated players are participating in this three-day long tournament.