Bharathkoti, Mahalakshmi are national junior chess champs

Pradeep Modak

PATNA: International master Harsh Bharathkoti of Telangana won the 47h National Junior Chess Championships title with 9.5 points at the end of the 11^th and final round of the play at the Patliputra Sports Complex hall here on Monday.

Women international master M Mahalakashmi of Tamil Nadu wore the 32^nd National Junior Women Chess Championships crown bagging a total of 9 points at the end of 11^th round.

There was a tie for the top spot in the boys’ section as both Bharathkoti and FIDE master Karthik Venkatram (2347) of Andhra Pradesh collected 9.5 points to finish the tournament. Buchholz system was introduced to decide the winner and Bharathkoti edged past his rival Karthik (76-73) to become the new junior national champion. Karthik had to be satisfied with the runner-up slot.

The final day saw some nerve-wreaking matches as on the top board Harsh Bharathkoit (2394) was pitted against S Jai Kumar Shetty of Maharashtra. Harsh began with Kings Indian defence while Jai Kumar attacked the Harsh’s King side but could not penetrate the rival’s defence. Both the players were agreed for draw to split the point. Jai Kumar ended his campaign with 8 points. 

On board two, Karthik and Sailesh Dravid (2314) of Maharashtra too played a draw. Sailesh too finished the campaign with 8 points. International master Krishna Teja of Andhra Pradesh (2359) and K Muthiah of Tamil Nadu also played draw in the final round on the board No. 3. Krishna Teja along with four other players rounded up his campaign with 8 points to his credit.

On the top board of the girls’ section, Samyukta of Tamil Nadu and Isha Sharma of Tamil Nadu were agreed for a draw on the 45^th move in game of Kings Indian defence. Both of them garnered 8 points at the end of the final round. On board two, M Mahalakshmi tamed Rutuja in 31 moves. With this win, Mahalakshmi took his tally to 9 points and became eventual champion.

The Buchholz system came into the fore to decide the top 18 rankings in the tournament after having tied scores in the final round.

Boys (ranking): 1. Harsh Bharathkoit; 2. Karthik Venkatraman; 3.Krishna Teja; 4. Pranav Nanda (Andhra Pradesh); 5. Raja Ritwik (Telangana);  6. S Jai Kumar Shetty (Maharashtra); 7. Sailesh Dravid (Maharashtra); 8. S Jaikumar (Tamil Nadu); 9. S Dhananjay (Chhattishgarh); 10. K Sai Agni Jeetivesh (Telangana); 11. K Muthaih (Tamil Nadu); 12. Md Nubershah Seikh (Maharashtra); 13. Harshal Shahi (Delhi); 14. Mitrava Guha (West Bengal); 15. Sidhant Mahapatra (Odisha); 16. Hemant Ram (Tamil Ndu); 17. Kaustuv Kundu (West Bengal) and 18; Kushagra Mohan (Telangana).

Girls: 1. M Mahalakshmi (Tamil Nadu); 2. Sakshi Chitlange (Maharashtra); 3. Isha Sharma (Karnataka); 4. Suniyuka CMN (Tamil Nadu); 5. Harshita Gudnati (Andhra Pradesh); 6. Priyanka (Tamil Nadu); 7. Tarini Goyal (Chandigarh); 8. Meenal Gupta (J and K); Bkashi Rutuja (Maharashtra); 10. Varshnai (Tamil Nadu); 11. Tejashwani Sagar (Gujarat); 12. Smaraki Mohanty (Odisha); Lakshmi (Tamil Ndu); 14. Aditi Patel (Maharashtra); 15. S Sathpathi (Odisha); 16. Priyambada (Andhra Pradesh); 17. Abhirami (Andhra Pradesh) and 18. Divya Lakshmi (Tamil Nadu).

Bhar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was the chief guest at the closing function, gave away the prizes.