National Chess C’ship: Rajasurya stuns Rucha Pujari

New Delhi: Five players including last edition runner up R Bharathi of Tamilnadu, Nimmy A G of Kerala and Mahalakshmi of Tamilnadu emerged as joint leaders with five points after sixth round matches in the Amity 39th National Women Challengers Championship here at Naurang House on Tuesday.

The top board battle between Mahalakshmi and Nimmy in a Slav Defence game produced lot of excitement as Tamilnadu girl made serious of attacking moves to garner full point but Kochi based Nimmy held firm with precise counter moves to split the point after 32 moves while R Bharathi overpowered Maharashtra youngster Tejaswini Sagar in the sixth round battle to be among the leaders.   Michelle Catherina of Tamilnadu and Amruta Mokal of Maharashtra are the other leaders as they got better off Smaraki Mohanty of Orissa and Madhurima Shekhar respectively in the sixth round. 

Six players including, J Rajasurya of Tamilnadu,who shocked second seed and 2010 edition winner Rucha Pujari are trailing behind the leaders with a drift of half point. 

Earlier in fifth round, Nimmy stopped the dream run of local hope Madhurima Shekhar while Mahalakshmi defeated team mate J Saranya.

Important Results

Round-6 :- Mahalakshmi M of Tamilnadu (5) drew with Nimmy A G of Kerala (5); Shweta Gole of Maharashtra (4.5) drew with Priya P of Tamilnadu (4.5); Bharathi R of Tamilnadu (5) beat Tejaswini Sagar of Maharahstra (4); Smaraki Mohanty of Orissa (4) lost to Michelle Catherina of Tamilnadu (5); Amruta Mokal of Maharashtra (5) beat Madhurima Shekhar of Delhi (4); Swati Mohota of West Bengal (4.5) drew with Saranya J of Tamilnadu (4.5); Chandika Divyasree of Andhra Pradesh (4.5) beat Salini R of Andhra Pradesh (3.5); Rajasurya J of Tamilnadu (4.5) beat Rucha Pujari of Maharashtra (3.5); Bagyashree Thipsay of Maharashtra (4) drew with Meenu Rajendran of Kerala (4); Cholleti Sahajasri of Andhra Pradesh (4) drew with Pallabi Roy of West Bengal (4); Harini S of Tamilnadu (4) drew with Aparajita Gochhikar of Orissa (4); Savant Riya of Goa (3.5) lost to Lasya G of Andhra Pradesh (4.5); Ramya Krishna of Andhra Pradesh (3.5) drew with Supriya Joshi of Maharashtra (3.5); Priya VSS of Andhra Pradesh (3.5) drew with Raghavi N of Tamilnadu (3); A Akshaya of Tamilnadu (4) beat Shiny Das of Tripura (3); Meghna C H of Kerala (4) beat Madhuri M Patil of Maharashtra (3); Sandhya G of Andhra Pradesh (4) beat Kotepalli Sai Nirupama of Andhra Pradesh (3); Mitali Madhukar Patil of Maharashtra (4) beat Anigani Kavya of Andhra Pradesh (3); Matta Theja Sahhethhe of Andhra Pradesh (3.5) drew with Varshini V of Tamilnadu (3.5); Vaibhavi Thakur of Haryana (3) lost to Anjana Krishna of Kerala (4).

Round-5 :-  Nimmy A G of Kerala beat Madhurima Shekhar of Delhi; Priya P of Tamilnadu  drew with Swati Mohota of West Bengal; Mahalakshmi M of Tamilnadu  beat Saranya J of Tamilnadu ; Chandika Divyasree of Andhra Pradesh  drew with Tejaswini Sagar of Maharashtra ; Lasya G of Andhra Pradesh  drew with Bagyashree Thipsay of Maharashtra ; Raghavi N of Tamilnadu  lost to Shweta Gole of Maharashtra ; Anjana Krishna of Kerala  lost Bharathi R of Tamilnadu ; Michelle Catherina of Tamilnadu  beat Meghna C H of Kerala ; Kotepalli Sai Nirupama of Andhra Pradesh  lost Amruta Mokal of Maharashtra ; Aparajita Gochhikar of Orissa drew with Cholleti Sahajasri of Andhra Pradesh ; Salini R of Andhra Pradesh drew with Harini S of Tamilnadu ; Madhuri M Patil of Maharashtra  lost to Smaraki Mohanty of Orissa ; Rucha Pujari of Maharashtra  beat Pushpalata Mangal of Maharashtra ; Varhini V of Tamilnadu drew with Ramya Krishna of Andhra Pradesh; Arunima Kalra of Delhi drew with A Akshaya of Tamilnadu.