JOIN USPlaying white, Neha overcame Tulsi in a thrilling encounter before wrapping up the day with another win, against Akshatha R, with black pieces, in the second round.
She now holds the joint lead along Andria L D’Souza, Meghana TC and Kavana K Prabhu.
Meanwhile, the seeded players in the boys’ category had few alarms.
Results (II round):
Boys: Akshay Bharadwaj (2) bt Vivekraj (1); Prabhanjan LS (1) lt to Arjun Bharat (2); Satvik M (2) bt Akash SR (1); Akash K Shetty (1) lt to Anantharam RU (2); Varma Shabdhik (2) bt Akhilesh Rao B (1); Arjun Govind (1) lt to Pangal Gopalkrishna Nayak (2); Sharang MS (2) bt Arjun Adapa (1); Mayank G Jain (2) bt Arvind Ramnath Iyer (1); Athreya G (2) bt Nikhil R Umesh (1); Goutham S (2) bt Nithin R (1); Rahul Gowda (2) bt Ashwin J (1); Sanjay Rangharajhan M (1) lt to Shet Prajwal P (2); Ajay SM (2) bt Rayan Rouf (1); Shashwat S Mudnagudi (1) lt to Sujith Ramesh (2); Prakyath KC (1.5) drew Shakthi P (1.5); Sudhanva Bharadwaj (1) lt to Vasishta S (2); Sunil Bhargav N (1) lt to Ankith N Mahesh (2); Amogh Narayan (1.5) bt Tejas Prasad (1); Lohith BY (1.5) bt Sumukh Keshav C (0.5); Aditya Pai (1) bt Parthasarathy R (0.5).
Girls: Andria L D’Souza (2) bt Ashmitha Kirana Raju (1); Panchami Shenoy K (1.5) drew Sampada HR (1.5); Smirithi Suresh (1) lt to Prerana S Bharadwaj (2); Meghana TC (2) bt Eulalia AJ Pereira (1); Shet Pranita P (1) lt to Kavana K Prabhu (2); Akshatha R (1) lt to Neha S Byali (2); Swathi Bhat KM (1) lt to Sharanya V (1.5).