New Delhi: Karthikeyan Murali of Tamilnadu jumped to sole lead with six points after shocking top seed and state mate Arvindh Chithambaram in the sixth round of the National Under-13 Open Chess Championship at Kulachi Hansraj Model School, Ashok Vihar on Wednesday.
Playing with white pieces in four knight’s variation of Sicilian Defence, Murali converted his opponent’s crucial mistakes in the middle game to good effect to register an important win the championship in 36 moves. Second seed Sidhant Mohapatra occupying the lone second spot with five and half points. In the sixth round Mohapatra beat Ritiviz Parab of Goa in a 42 moves French Defence classical system game.
In other sixth round matches in the open section, Debankan Dhara of West Bengal held fifth seed Visakh N R of Tamilnadu while third seed Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh and local hope Harshal Shahi overcame Manu M of Kerala and Sai Agni Jeevitesh of Andhrapradesh respectively to occupy joint third spot along with ten others.
Meanwhile in the girls’ section, five players including top seed Ivana Maria Furtado of Goa and defending champion Monnisha G K of Tamilnadu are sharing the pole position with five points. In the crucial sixth round encounters, Ivana signed with peace treaty with Shoumi Mukerjee of West Bengal after a marathon match that lasted 109 moves in exchange variation of Slav defence while Monnisha agreed to split the point with Rutuja Bakshi in 22 moves. Tamilnadu players Ashwini and Vaishali joined Ivana, Monnisha and Shoumi at the point table after registering impressive victories over Smaraki Mohanty and Manjula R respectively in the sixth round encounters.
Earlier in the fifth round, Arvindh Chithambaram beat Vignesh N R while Karthikeyan Murali got better off Athul Krishna of Kerala. In the girls’ category top three boards ended without any decisive result.
Important Results :
Round-6 Open : Karthikeyan Murali of Tamilnadu (6) beat Aravindh Chithambaram V R of Tamilnadu (5); Sidhant Mohapatra (5.5) beat Ritviz Parab of Goa (4.5); Debankan Dhara of West Bengal (5) drew with Visakh N R of Tamilnadu (5); Pranav Vijay of Tamilnadu (5) drew with Kumaran B of Tamilnadu (4.5); Manu M of Kerala (4) lost to Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh of Maharashtra (5); Vignesh N R of Tamilnadu (5) beat Satvik M of Karnataka (4); Harshal Shahi of Delhi (5) beat Sai Agni Jeeviesh J of Andhrapradesh (4); Raghav Srivathsav of Andhrapradesh (5) beat Athul Krishna S of Kerala (4); Abhimanyu Puranik of Maharashtra (5) beat Visveshwar A of Tamilnadu (4); Digvijay Sonwane of Maharashtra (4) lost to Krishna Teja N of Andhrapradesh (5); Harsha Bharathakoti of Andhrapradesh (5) beat Anand Nadar of Maharashtra (4); Nikhil Dixit of Maharashtra (5) beat Ravindra Teja Muttineni of Andhrapradesh (4); Hetul Shah of Gujarat (4.5) beat Siva Mahadevan of Tamilnadu (4); Pranavananda V of Andhrapradesh (4.5) beat Atharva Madkar of Maharashtra (3.5); Ishaan Bansal of Punjab (3.5) lost to Kaustuv Kundu of West Bengal (4.5).
Round-5 Open : Arvindh Chithambaram beat Vignesh N R; Visakh N R drew with Sidhant Mohapatra; Athul Krishna S lost to Karthikeyan Murali; Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh drew with Debankan Dhara; Nishant Kumar lost to Pranav Vijay; Ritviz Parab of Goa beat Kaustuv Kundu; Anand Nadar drew with Abhimanyu Puranik; Krishna Teja drew with Raghav Srivathsav; Hetul Shah drew with Saurabh Anand; Ravindra Teja Muttineni beat Karthik V; Kumaran B beat Bhaskar Sri Viswaroopanand; Kushagra Sharma lost to Harshal Shahi; Atharva Madkar drew with Naren Swaminathan; Rohan Ahuja drew with Aditya Hiren Vaidya; Ritabroto Ganguly lost to Harsha Bharathakoti.
Round-6 Girls : Shoumi Mukerjee of West Bengal (5) drew with Ivana Maria Furtado of Goa (5); Monnisha G K of Tamilnadu (5) drew with Rutuja Bakshi of Maharahstra (4.5); Meghna C H of Kerala (4.5) drew with Sunyasakta Satpathy of Orissa (4.5); Ashwini U of Tamilnadu (5) beat Smaraki Mohanty of Orissa (4); Manjula R of Tamilnadu (4) lost to Vaishali R of Tamilnadu (5); Poulami Bhattacharyya of West Bengal (3.5) lost to Mahalakshmi M of Tamilnadu (4.5); Varshini V of Tamilnadu (4.5) beat Varsha C K of Tamilnadu (3.5); Priyamvada Karamcheti of Andhrapradesh (3.5) lost to Anigani Kavya of Andhrapradehs (4.5); Divya Lakshmi R of Tamilnadu (4.5) beat Tarini Goyal of Chandigarh (3.5); Kratica Shekhwat of Rajasthan (4) drew with Megha Gupta of Gujarat (4); Shiny Das of Tripura (4.5) beat Chandreyee Hajra of West Bengal (3.5); Hilmi Parveen of Kerala (4.5) beat Akankhya Kabi of Orissa (3.5); Deekshidha P S of Tamilnadu (4) drew with Dharani Sree R of Tamilnad (4); Dhanashree Pandit of Maharashtra (4) beat Sai Srrija P of Andhrapradesh (3.5); Manasa H R of Karnataka (4) beat Sweta Senapaty of Orissa (3).
Round-5 Girls : Ivana Maria Furtado drew with Monnisha G K; Sunyasakta Satpathy drew with Manjula R; Smaraki Mohanty drew with Meghna C H; Tarini Goyal lost to Shoumi Mukerjee; Mahalakshmi M drew with Hilmi Parveen; Rutuja Bakshi beat Dhanashree Pandit; Anigani Kavya drew with Varhini V; Vaishali R beat Manasa H R: Sai Srrija P drew with Priyamvada Karamcheti; Ashwini U beat Divya Garg; Chandreyee Hajra drew with Divya Lakshmi R; Akankhya Kabi drew with Deekshidha; Varsha C K drew with Kratica Shekhwat; Megha Gupta beat Sovna Sonali Jena; Nimita Joshi lost to Shiny Das.
