JOIN USVaishali R joined Rajdeep Sarkar at the top with 7.5 points at the end of the ninth round of the 26th National Under 17 Open and Girls Chess Championship here on Friday.
Tamil Nadu’s Vaishali defeated Karthik V of Andhra Pradesh in 39 moves of a Veresov Opening on the second board while West Bengal boy Rajdeep had to settle for a draw against Krishna Teja of Andhra Pradesh in a Semi Slav Opening.
In the girls’ section, Varshini V of Tamil Nadu stayed on top with 8.5 points after winning the ninth round. Vantika Agrawal is in second spot with 7 points. Mahalakshmi and Divya Lakshmi of Tamil Nadu, Toshali of AP and Aditee Prabhugaonkar of Goa are in joint third position with 6.5 points each.
Results: U-17: Open: Krishna Teja (AP, 6.5 points) drew with Rajdeep Sarkar (WB, 7.5); Karthik V (AP, 6) lt to Vaishali R (TN, 7.5); Pravanand V (AP, 7) bt Sai Vishwesh C (TN, 5.5); Kumaran B (TN, 6) drew with Erigaisi Arjun (Tel, 6); Shailesh Dravid (Mah, 6) drew Harikrishnan A (TN, 6); Jayakumar S (TN, 6) drew with Bharath Kalyan M (TN, 6); Dhananjay (Chhatt, 6.6) bt Adhithya S (TN, 5.5); Muthaiah Al (TN, 6) bt Chandar Raju (Ker, 5); Athul Krishna S (Ker, 6) bt Shet Prajwal P (Kar, 5); Dhanush Bharadwaj (Kar, 5.5) drew with Sai Agni Jeevitesh (Tel, 5.5). Girls: Varshini V (TN, 8.5) bt Potluri Supreetha (AP, 6); Divya Lakshmi R (TN, 6) bt Mahalakhsmi M (TN, 6.5); Bidhar Rutumbara (Odi, 5.5) lt to Vantika Agarwal (Del, 7); Jadhav Vaibhavi (Mah, 5.5) lt to Toshali V (AP, 6.5); Prabhugaonkar Aditee Aman (Goa, 6.5) bt Isha Sharma (Kar, 5.5); Potluru Saye Srreezza (Tel, 5.5) drew with Thamaraiselvi P (TN, 5.5); Smaraki Mohanty (Odi, 6) bt Shah Rutvi (Guj, 5); Abirama Srinithi G (TN, 5.5) drew with Sreelakshmi M (Ker, 5.5); Varsha CR (TN, 5.5) drew with Swera Ana Braganca (Goa, 5.5); Kavitha PL (TN, 5.5) w/o Priyanka Nutakki (AP 4.5).