Niranjan pockets boys' title

Niranjan Navalgund of Belgaum and Shristi J Shetty of Shimoga won their respective final-round boys’ and girls’ matches to emerge champions in the State Sub-junior FIDE-rated chess championship here on Saturday.

Overnight leader Navalgund, playing with white pieces, dispatched Mysore’s Vivekananda L in the ninth round to finish the tournament with eight points, securing a narrow half-point victory over second-placed Antonio Viani D'Cunha of Mangalore.

Shristi, who had shared the lead with Nisha N Patkar and Gangamma BN at the end of the penultimate round, laid her hands on the title after she eased past Mysore’s Manasa HR in the fifth round for an overall total of 4.5 points.

Nisha and Gangamma, pitted against each other in the final round, settled for a draw to finish at tied second place with four points.

Important results: Boys (ninth round): Niranjan Navalgund (Bel, 8) bt Vivekananda L (Mys, 6); Antonio Viani D'Cunha (Man, 7.5) bt Sameer Kulkarni (Bel, 6); Gautam MD (Has, 6) drew Kedar Umesh Vaze (Shi, 6.5); Shreeshan S (Shi, 6.5) drew Rakshith R Umesh (Shi, 6); Shashank Benadikar D (Bel, 6.5) bt Ninad V Prabhu Khanolkar (Bel, 6) Nagashravan P Hemadri (Hub, 5) lt to Vedant Patil P (Bel, 6); Yashaskar Jois (Mys, 5) lt to Akash K Shetty (Chik, 6); Chirag M Ramesh (Mys, 6) bt Vivekraj (Has, 5); Prabhanjan LS (Bang, 4.5) lt to Sumanth Jois (Shi, 6); Vishal Kulgod (Bel, 5.5) bt Avdhut Ashok Jadhav (Bel, 4.5); Harish S Pujari (Gul, 4.5) lt to Chiranth MD (Shi, 5.5); Sandesh AK (Dhar, 4.5) lt to Sumedh S Parvatikar (Bel, 5.5); Silambarasan J (Bel, 5.5) bt Jahnavi B Kulkarni (Bel, 4); Anant Prakash Sharma (Bel, 4) lt to Siddharth VN (Gul, 5); Girish Reddy (Gul, 5) bt Sujay N Koujalgi (Bel, 4).

Final standings: Niranjan Navalgund (8 points) 1;  Antonio Viani D'Cunha (7.5) 2; Kedar Umesh Vaze, Shreeshan S, Shashank Benadikar D (6.5) 3.

Individual awards, best player: U-13: Sumanth Jois; U-11: Akash K Shetty; U-9: Prabhanjan LS; U-7: Manoj B Kulkarni.

Girls (fifth round):
Manasa HR (Mys, 3) lt to Shristi J Shetty (Shi, 4.5); Nisha N Patkar (Shi, 4) drew Gangamma BN (Mys, 4); Ayesha SK (Bell, 3.5) drew Akshatha R (Shi, 3.5); Deeksha MR (Mys, 3.5) bt Vani S Indrali (Hub, 3); Shalon Joanne Pais (Man, 3.5) bt Namratha GM (Bang, 2.5).

Final standings: Shristi J  Shetty (4.5) 1; Nisha N Patkar, Gangamma BN (4) 2; Shalon Joanne Pais, Deeksha MR, Ayesha SK, Akshatha (3.5) 4.

Individual awards, best player: U-13: Spoorthy S Savalagi; U-11: Vani S Indrali; U-9: Varsha Vageesh Patil.