Ananya, Dhanashree share lead in state U-15 chess championship

NAGPUR: Ananya Menkudle and Dhanashree Rathi performed well to share the lead with five points each at the end of Round 6 in the Laxmikant Itkelwar Memorial Maharashtra State U-15 Chess tournament at the Naivedyam Hall here on Monday.
Ananya surprised Sunday’s sole leader Sonal Mandhana in 39 moves on the top board to take her points tally to five.On the second board, Aditi Patel and Khushi Surana settled for a draw in 40 moves. Both the players have 4.5 points to their credit. Dhanashree Rathi prevailed over Shalaka Pagay in 49 moves to join Ananya at the top.
In the boys open section, three players -- top seed Anand Nadar, Nishit Singh and local lad Sankalp Gupta – are in joint lead with 5.5 points each under their belt.
Nadar and Singh agreed to a draw after just 11 moves. Roneet Das and Yash Dhoke also settled for a draw in 30 moves. Sankalp got the better of his citymate Om Vitalkar in 30 moves.
RESULTS (Round 6)
Girls: Sonal Mandhana (4.5) lost to Anannya Menkudle (5), Aditi Patel (4.5) drew with Khushi Surana (4.5), Shalaka Pagay (3.5) lost Dhanashree Rathi (5), Anushka Kohle (3.5) bt Srishti Pandey (4.5), Aditi Patil (3.5) lost to Eesha Sarda (4.5), Tanya Pandey (4) bt Dnynadha Vitalkar (3.5), Purti Aurangabadkar (3.5) drew with Anushka Sapkale (3.5), Anjali Pawar (3) lost to Narayani Adane (4), Isha Pritam Inamdar (4) bt Purva Pednekar (3), Disha Dhore (3) lost to Subhasmitha Sahoo (4).
Boys: Anand Nadar (5.5) drew with Nishit Singh (5.5), Roneet Das (5) drew with Yash Dhoke (5), Sankalp Gupta (5.5) bt Om Vitalkar (4), Kedar Morvekar (5) bt Saransh Jeswani (4), Swayam Aalewad (4.5) drew with Salil Deogade (4.5), Devansh Ratti (5) bt Sanil Upasani (4), Vinit Dhoot (4) bt Priyanshu Patil (5), Vaibhav Raut (4.5) drew with Samyak Patodi (4.5), Shail Pagay (4) R Sai Shravan (5), Rahul Pawar (4.5) drew with Yash Ingolikar (4).