Asian Junior Championship: Raahul, Savitha Shri win titles as Indians shine

Raahul, 18, scored 7.5 points and finished ahead of compatriots Mitraba Guha (7 points) and G B Harshavardhan (6.5 points), who took the second and third places respectively.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: VS Raahul remained unbeaten in the nine-round event and scored six wins to go with three draws.

India's V S Raahul and B Savitha Shri won the boys' and girls' titles in the Asian Junior Chess Championship in Sri Lanka on Thursday.

Raahul, 18, scored 7.5 points and finished ahead of compatriots Mitraba Guha (7 points) and G B Harshavardhan (6.5 points), who took the second and third places respectively.

Indian players K Raghunandan and Vardaan Nagpal took fourth and sixth spots in the final standings.

Raahul remained unbeaten in the nine-round event and scored six wins to go with three draws. He also secured his maiden GM norm.

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Guha, who became a Grandmaster last month, was the top-seed and a defeat to Raahul in the fifth round and a draw against Sri Lanka's Ranindu Liyanage in round two, hurt his chances. In the girls' section, Savitha Shri drew her ninth round game against Chaindi Attanayake (Sri Lanka) to finish with seven points and on top.

Fellow Indian player K Priyanka took the second place, ahead of Iran's Anousha Mahdian, though, the two finished with 6.5 points due to a better tie-break score.

The 14-year old Savitha Shri also won her maiden Woman Grandmaster norm. She was unbeaten in the tournament, winning five games and drawing two.