Sarkar bags title despite defeat; Varshini tops

West Bengal’s Rajdeep Sarkar, despite suffering a defeat in the final round, prevailed in a six-way tie for the top spot to clinch the open category title in the 26th National Under-17 Chess Championship here on Sunday.

Overnight leader Sarkar, playing with black pieces, lost his 11th round contest to Karthik V of Andhra Pradesh to finish on eight points with Krishna Teja N, WFM Vaishali, Dhanajay, Kumar B and Karthik himself. But Sarkar was declared the champion by virtue of better tie-break score.

Krishna emerged runner-up while Vaishali took home the bronze medal.
Earlier on Saturday, Varshini V of Tamil Nadu successfully retained the girls’ title with a round to spare. Varshini drew her final round game against Divya Lakshmi R on Sunday to finish on 10 points. Mahalakshmi M finished second on 8.5 points and Toshali V third on 8 points.

Important results (Open): Kumaran B (TN, 8) bt WFM Vaishali R (TN, 8); Karthik V (AP, 8) bt FM Rajdeep Sarkar (WB, 8); 3 Dha­nanjay (Cha, 8) bt Muthaiah A (TN, 7); Krishna Teja N (AP, 8) bt Harikrishnan A (TN, 7); Shailesh Dravid (Mah, 7.5) drew Rajarishi Karthi (TN, 6.5); Jayakumaar S (TN, 6) lt to Elancheralathan P (TN, 7); Vaisnav M (TN, 6.5) drew Erigaisi Arjun (Tel, 6.5).

Girls: WFM Varshini V (TN, 10) drew Divya Lakshmi R (TN, 7.5); Shah Vishwa (Mah, 6.5) lt to WFM Mahalakshmi M (TN, 8.5); Varsha CR (TN, 7) drew Toshali V (AP, 8); Vantika Agrawal (Del, 7.5) drew WCM Isha Sharma (Kar, 7); Smaraki Mohanty (Odi, 7.5) bt Prabhugaonkar Aditee Aman (Goa,6.5); Manasa HR (Kar, 6) lt to Thamaraiselvi P (TN, 7.5); Abirama Srinithi G (TN, 7) bt Potluri Saye Srreezza (Tel, 6); WFM Potluri Supreetha (AP, 7) bt Kavya Srishti K (Tel, 6); Senthamizh Yazhini S (TN, 6) lt to Kavitha PL (TN, 7); Ankitha Goud Palle (Tel, 6.5) bt Jasper Jothi P (TN, 6).