Manasa K of Mangalore finished 4th in the National under-17 girls’ chess championship conducted by Puri district Chess Association at Puri in Orissa under the auspices of All India Chess Federation from June 22 to 26. 

According to a press release, this is the best ever performance by a girl from Karnataka in the National level chess.

Manasa, a student of Sharada PU college, scored 6 points out of the possible 8 to finish at a joint second with Pon N Krithika of Tamil Nadu and Anusha N L V of Andhra Pradesh, who were placed 2nd and 3rd considering their better progressive score, pushing Manasa to the 4th place. The championship was won by Preethi R of Tamil Nadu who scored 6.5 points.

Manasa, (FIDE rating 1896) started as 24th seed and on her way to the 4th position she won 5 rounds, drew 2 and lost 1.

Her wins include the ones against the former national champion of the category P Uthra of Tamil Nadu and former National under-11 champion and Asian under-10 champion and former National Women Chess champion P Lakshmi Sahiti of AP.

It was a draw with her team mate K Shruthi in the 8th round that deprived Manasa of her birth in the Asian and world tournaments. She gained about 20+ Elo points in her FIDE rating.  

Manasa is six times State Chess Champion in her age categories, and one time silver and two times Gold Medalist and captain of Karnataka Girls Team in the National chess tournaments conducted by the School Games Federation of India.