new delhi the checkmatecovid chess tournament conducted by the government of karnataka along with the united karnataka chess association and mobile premier league mpl raised rs 15 lakh in proceeds that were donated to the karnataka cms covid relief fund a total of 19245 players registered for the tournament which had a total prize pool of rs 10 lakh chess grandmaster ankit rajpara won the tournament which was held on may 2 and 3 on the mpl app he was awarded rs 1 lakh grandmaster bhakti kulkarni won the award for the topranked female player and shakuntala devi won the award for topranked player above 60 years of age rs 25000 each respectively the tournament saw a total of 237 lakh chess games played all players ranking up to 10000 on the tournament leader board were awarded cash prizes from the total prize pool i thank all the players who participated and contributed to the checkmatecovid chess tournament we are glad to have collected a large amount for the cms covid relief fund congratulations to the winners and to everyone else for making this tournament successful we must continue to come together and fight this crisis said ct ravi minister for youth empowerment and sports government of karnataka the matches were played in the speed chess format with each player getting three minutes in the game winners were decided on the basis of maximum such games won over the twoday duration of the tournament it was great to participate in the checkmatecovid tournament playing chess is my passion and if i can also contribute to a good cause at the same time nothing like it said tournament winner grandmaster ankit rajpara