West Bengal’s Rajdeep Sarkar beat third-seed Vaishali R to claim the sole lead in the open section of the 26th National U-17 chess championship here on Monday.
Playing Blumenfield Gambit on top board, Rajdeep was up by a pawn from the opening. But Vaishali got some counter play with double bishop against bishop and knight. After exchange of few pieces, Rajdeep won the game in 53 moves by rook ending.
Meanwhile Tamil Nadu players, Harikrishna AR and Kumaran B, playing Sicilian defence on second board, signed the peace treaty in 24 moves.
In the girls section, Karnataka’s Ananya Suresh of Karnataka bowed to the Asian youth U-14 girls champion, Varshini V of Tamil Nadu on the top board.
Varshini won the game in 54 moves.
Results: Round 4: Open: Rajdeep Sarkar (WB, 4) bt Vaishali R (TN, 3); Harikrishnan AR (TN, 3.5) drew with Kumaran B (TN, 3); Karthik V (AP, 3.5) bt Adhithya S (TN, 2.5); Sai Agni Jeevitesh (Tel, 2.5) lt Shailesh Dravid (Mah, 3.5); Rajarishi Karthi (TN, 2.5) lt Dhananjay (Cht, 3.5); Grahesh Y (AP, 2.5) lt Pravananda V (AP, 3.5); Erigaisi Arjun (AP, 3.5) bt Rahul Srivatshav P (Tel, 2.5); Sharma Vibhav (Har, 2) lt Muthaiah Al (TN, 3); Sai Vishwesh C (TN, 2.5) drew with Arka Sengupta (WB, 2.5); Likhit Chilukuri (Kar, 2) lt Krishan Teja N (AP, 3).
Girls: Ananya Suresh (Kar, 3) lt Varshini V (TN, 4); Mahalakshmi M (TN, 4) bt Toshali V (AP, 3); Priyanka Nutakki (AP, 3.5) bt Manasa HR (Kar, 2.5); Shah Vishwa (Mah, 2.5) lt Vantika Agrawal (Del, 3.5); Isha Sharma (Kar, 3.5) bt Sapale Saloni (Mah, 2.5); Jasper Jothi (TN, 2) lt Divya Lakshmi R (TN, 3); Potluri Saye Srreezza (Tel, 3) bt Dakshinya TRS (TN, 2); Smaraki Mohanty (Odi, 2) Jadhav Vaibhavi (Mah, 3); Kavya Shristi (Tel, 2.5) drew with Abirama Srinithi (TN, 2.5); Jegatha B (TN, 2) lt Ankitha Palle (Tel, 3).
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks