Mauritius Chess Federation

An Opinion article in L'Express newspaper today by Stephane Benoit where the MCF is praised in its success to attract greater following to their events than other Olympic Sports. The MCF thanks Stephane Benoit for his chess reports that supported and contributed to the promotion of Chess across the island.

Our team has arrived at the Italian Adriatic beach resort, Montesilvano, where the World Youth Chess Championship 2026 is underway till 27th June 2026.
Yesterday our players had a tough first round games as they were out-rated by several hundred Elo points by their opponents and lost all 5 games. Khilli Meenowa had the best opportunity to score for the Mauritius team as she had Queen versus Rook and Bishop against her English opponent Li Yueci (1875 Elo) but she lost after stumbling into a mating attack.
Sahil Reetoo made an inaccuracy in his game against his Finnish opponent Vesa (2142 Elo) in the Scandinavian Defense and quickly lost an exchange and the game. Aditya Rakha was outplayed by FM Bazilius from Lithuania rated 2240 Elo points. Shanaya lost to the Egyptian Alaa Eldin (1870 Elo) whereas Pravaranand Chuttoo succumbed to a king side attack against South Korea Lee Jiwoo(1996 Elo).
Hopefully they will have learnt from these set backs and recover in the following rounds.
All games can be watched Live on either the chess.com or Li chess.com platforms. Rounds start at 5.00 p.m Mauritian time.
Pairings
https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1438701.aspx?lan=1&art=25&fedb=MRI&flag=30&SNode=S0
Link to Live games
https://www.chessworldyouth.com/

Chess report in L'Express newspaper today by their chess correspondent Stephane Benoit.

The last tournament held at Ocean Villas in 2025 set a record that will be difficult to beat, 60 Slots sold out 6 hours after the event was advertised on our page.
This year the MCF has again reunited with Ocean Villas hotel, Grand Bay Corinthians and our general sponsor SWAN group to hold the "Young Stars Rapid 2026" .Stay tuned as again 60 Slots will be on offer but only for Juniors, players must not have reached their 18th birthday as at 1st January 2026. Exciting Prizes will be on offer and again complimentary Snacks and drinks to participants thanks to our generous Sponsors.

Twenty years after participating at the Torino Chess Olympiad in Italy(2006), the MCF is sending another National team composed of 5 Juniors namely Aditya Rakha, Sahil Reetoo, Pravaranand Chuttoo, Shanaya Reetoo and Khilli Meenowa to the World Youth Chess Championship 2026 to be held in Montesilvano (Italy) from 14th to 27th June 2026. The team will be accompanied by MCF Vice president Patrick Li Ying who will act as coach/Head of delegation.
Our team will be based at the Grand Hotel Montesilvano which is walking distance from the playing venue, the Dean Martin Congress Centre. 780 players from 85 countries have registered for this World Youth Chess Championship in the three age group categories U14 U16 and U18,of whom 295 FIDE Titled players. There will be 11 rounds of classical time control games and a 9 rounds of 3/2 Blitz time control event.
Last Sunday at the Swan center Randhir Mungra of the Swan Group remitted to the MCF President Hurrynarain Bhowany jackets with our national colours, Swan and MCF Logos that the team will wear at this World event. The MCF thanks Swan group for this generous sponsorship.
This is not the first time that Mauritius has sent Juniors to the World Youth tournament as in 2013 Vicken Sawmynaden represented the country at Al Ain (UAE) in 2014, Mrinal Ramsaha played in Durban (South Africa)and Kenji Ng in Santiago de Compostela(Spain) in 2018. In 2015 at Halkidikki (Greece) Patrick Li Ying had the opportunity to act as FIDE arbiter in the U10 Open category and he supervised youngsters such as Pragganandhaa Rameshbabu and Javokhir Sindarov, now world class Grandmasters.
The MCF has no doubt that participation to such high level events will boost the learning curve of our Juniors and motivate them to improve their chess skills.
Team lists
https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1375162.aspx?lan=1&art=13&fedb=TUR&SNode=S0

In a thrilling finale Bavish Sunassee beat all the odds to pip Kovid Burthun on tie-break to clinch the Masters Qualifiers 2026 title, after both players finished on 6 points out of 7 games. Nobody could have forecasted such an outcome after Bavish Sunassee lost in the first round against Antess Gooriah but thereafter he went on a rampage in winning all his next 6 rounds to finish a deserved winner. Kovid Burthun played a solid tournament to remain unbeaten and he will be consoled by his qualification to the Masters Finals together with the winner. The last two qualifying slots went to Jean Hugues Jugganaigooloo and CM Hoolan Naipal who scored 5.5 points. Stephane Lam Kin Cheung missed on the qualification as he played safe in the last round by making an early draw with J H Jugganaigooloo but the Tie-break was unfavorable to him. Benitot Ah Kye also missed out despite a late rally to finish in 6th place on 5.5 points. The other top players who were unable to qualify for the Masters Finals 2026 are Christophe Chan and Rayen Sawmynaden after they suffered defeats against Bavish Sunassee and Righen Sawmynaden respectively.
On the Women side Manusha Aubeeluck took the title on tie-break ahead of Shanaya Reetoo after both scored 3.5 points. The Qualifiers to the Women Masters Finals were Shanaya Reetoo, Louve Benaich, Samaira Tulsidas and Chopra Sehaj Kaur.
The level of play throughout the tournament showed a marked improvement from previous tournaments and it looks like that we are witnessing a change of the guard, with three students of the University of Mauritius in the top 3 places. However the acid test will come in November when they will face stronger opposition from seasoned players such as Gavin Anderson, Stefan Lee Luen Mang, Devarajan Chinasamy and Salhi Zouhaier.
The MCF was also happy to notice that 2 Juniors Hrishav Emrit and Daven Mootin made it in the top ten placed players which bodes well for the future of the game in Mauritius. We also expect around 10 players to obtain an international FIDE Elo rating in the July 2026 list.
The Category Winners were as follows
Open
1.Bavish Sunassee 2.Kovid Burthun
Women
1.Manusha Aubeeluck 2. Romila Beharee
U18 Boys
1.Hrishav Emrit 2.Daven Mootin
U18 Girls
1.Samaira Tulsidas 2.Sehaj Kaur Chopra
U14 Boys
1.Jules Benaich 2.Sharma Shane Ahaan
U14 Girls
1.Shanaya Reetoo 2.Louve Benaich
Standings
https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1413828.aspx?lan=1&art=4&SNode=S0
More pictures of the event to be found on our Instagram page

The 6th round of the Swan Masters Qualifiers 2026 is underway at the Swan center this morning. Two students of the University of Mauritius are surprisingly in the lead, namely Jean Hugues Jugganaigooloo on 5 points and Kovid Burthun on 4.5 points. They are facing each other on the top table and the winner will take a firm option on the qualification for the Masters Finals. In third place we find Hrishav Emrit, the best Junior of the tournament on 4.5 points, followed by Christophe Chan and Stephane Lam Kin Cheung. The latter has put a severe dent to Benitot Ah Kye challenge for qualification as he beat him in a beautiful positional squeeze in the Sicilian Najdorf variation in the 5th round.
On 4 points we have a chasing pack comprising of Rayen Sawmynaden, Hoolan Naipal, Bavish Sunassee, Righen Sawmynaden and the second best Junior Sahil Reetoo. The 4 last qualifying places for the Open Masters Finals will surely be contested among these top ten players.
On the Women side Khilli Meenowa and Shanaya Reetoo are in the lead on 3 points, half a point ahead of Manusha Aubeeluck.

Last Sunday 31st May 2026, International Master Neeraj Mishra (India) bid farewell to the local Chess community after a 3-months training stint on our island. During his stay
IM Mishra delivered training to both Primary and Secondary school teachers and also did a refresher course to the holistic teachers who had already attended chess courses.
He also conducted a Masterclass at the Gymkhana club Vacoas for MCF members and weekly classes for Juniors at the Eddy Norton hall, Rose Hill.
IM Mishra also acted as arbiter at the Corporate Sports Association chess tournament and for the MCF Beginners course tournament.
Finally IM Mishra provided online course to the Elite players weekly in the evening and attended donation of chess equipment to various colleges in Mauritius and to our members in Rodrigues Island.
The MCF thanks IM Neeraj Mishra for his contribution in the promotion of chess across the island and we have no doubt that this investment in training will be beneficial to our members and youth in the near future.

The second week-end of the Swan Masters Qualifiers 2026 tournament saw two players, Jean Hugues Jugganaigooloo and CM Hoolan Naipal emerged as co-leaders on 4 points out of 4 games. The chasing pack on 3.5 points is comprised of 6 players namely CM Benitot Ah Kye, Stephane Lam Kin Cheung, Kovid Bhurtun and 3 Juniors Hrishav Emrit, Shreehan Joshi and the surprising Thavanesh Baloonuck a Regis Chaperon student.
On 3 points we have 15 players among whom we notice pre-tournament favourites like Christophe Chan, Rayen Sawmynaden and CM Patrick Marie. Our top youngsters such as Romain Brugette, Daven Mootin, Sahil Reetoo, Keshav Sooroojbally are also in this group and can harbour some hope of a late winning streak next week-end, that will propel them towards the qualifying slots for the Masters Finals.
On the Women side Junon Benaich, Louve Benaich, Shanaya Reetoo and Khilli Meenowa are in the driving seat, all four on 2 points.
Thavanesh Baloonuck, Dharmein Mungroo, Lucas Lam Hung, Antess Gooriah,Arnaud Felix, Rhitisheak Randhay and Ewan Mezir are on track to obtain a first International Fide rating in the July 2026 list.
Standings and Rd 5 Pairings
https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1413828.aspx?lan=1&art=4&SNode=S0
https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1413828.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=5&SNode=S0