Kolkata: Tamil Nadu once again stamped their authority in the National sub-junior chess as Murali Karthikeyan and G.K. Monisha has emerged champions in the boy’s and girl’s category on Wednesday. Apart from them, B. Kumaran and third seed Aravindh Chithambaram claimed third and fourth spot in boy’s category.
Karthikeyan won the match by a slender margin of 75-74 against the Diptayan Ghosh of Bengal. Ghosh was having a tough time in the early half of the match but he made a great comeback in the later games. However, second seeded Karthikeyan had his share of luck which got him to his goal. Ghosh was sort of a lone ranger as the top-four was dominated by the Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, Monisha claimed her fifth National title with her sensational victory over her state-mate R. Vaishali. She took 55 moves to seal the fate of the match and her victory wasn’t much of a surprise as she was the favourite because of her overnight lead.
Apart from this title Monisha has earlier claimed the National under-13 crown twice, apart from topping in the under-17 and 9 categories once each.
Meanwhile, top seed M. Mahalakshmi recovered from her poor form in the last few rounds to beat Smaraki Mohanty of Odisha and finish second with 8.5 points.
Important results (final round): Boys: Diptayan Ghosh (Ben) 9 bt N.R. Vignesh (TN) 7.5; Murali Karthikeyan (TN) 9 bt Pranav Vijay (TN) 7.5; B. Kumaran (TN) 8.5 drew with Rishubh Naresh Naik (Goa) 8; Shaikh Nubairshah Mohammad (Mah) 8 bt Sidhant Mohapatra (Odi) 7.5; S. Ajay Krishna (TN) 7 lost to Aravindh Chithambaram (TN) 8
Rajdeep Sarkar (Ben) 7.5 drew with Harsha Bharathakoti (AP) 7.5; Mitrabha Guha (Ben) 7.5 drew with K. Anshuman (TN) 7.5; N.R. Visakh (TN) 7.5 bt N. Krishna Teja (AP) 7; Ritviz Parab (Goa) 7.5 bt Shailesh Dravid (Mah) 6.5; Saurabh Anand (Bih) 7 drew with A.L. Muthaiah (TN) 7.
Girls: G.K. Monisha (TN) 9 bt R. Vaishali (TN) 7.5; M. Mahalakshmi (TN) 8.5 bt Smaraki Mohanty (Odi) 7; V. Varshini (TN) 8 drew with Dhanashree Pandit (Mah) 7.5; R. Gayetri 8 (TN) bt Rutuja Bakshi (Mah) 7; C.H. Meghna (Ker) 8 bt R. Divya Lakshmi (TN) 7; Hilmi Parveen (Ker) 6.5 lost to Riya Savant (Goa) 7.5; Saloni Sapale (Mah) 7 drew with U. Ashwini (TN) 7; Shiny Das (Tri) 7.5 bt Bhagya Jayesh (Ker) 6.5; R. Dharani Sree (TN) 6.5 lost to Arpita Mukherjee (Ben) 7; Tejaswini Sagar (Mah) 6.5 drew with Khushi Dharewa (Ben) 6.5.
The top 10: Boys: 1. M. Karthikeyan (9); 2. Diptayan (9); 3. B. Kumaran (8.5); 4. A. Chithambaram (8); 5. Shaikh Nubairshah Mohammad (8); 6. Rihubh (8); 7. S. Mohapatra (7.5); 8. Harsha (7.5); 9. Pranav (7.5); 10. Vignesh (7.5).
Girls: 1. Monisha (9); 2. Mahalakshmi (8.5); 3. Varshini (8); 4. Meghna (8); 5. Gayetri (8); 6. Vaishali (7.5); 7. Riya (7.5); 8. Dhanashree (7.5); 9. Shiny (7.5); 10. Divya (7).
