Chess: Jishitha wins World crown; silver for Arjun, Sakshi

D. Jishitha maintained her awesome winning spree to claim the gold medal in the girls (under-14) section of the World Youth Chess Championship here on Wednesday.

World girls (under-14) champion D. Jishitha (centre) flanked by girls (under-18) runner-up Sakshi Chitlange (left) and Open (under-14) runner-up Arjun Ergaisi at the World Youth Chess championship in Montevideo, Uruguay, on Wednesday.

D. Jishitha maintained her awesome winning spree to claim the gold medal in the girls (Under-14) section of the World Youth Chess Championship here on Wednesday.

The final day of the championship also saw two silver medals coming India’s way, with Arjun Erifaisi (in open U-14) and Sakshi Chitlange (girls’ U-18) making the podium.

Jishitha, seeded six and tottering at the ninth spot after six rounds, won the last five rounds of the 11-round Swiss League to finish with nine points.

Arjun, the fifth seed, signed off with three successive victories to maintain his unbeaten campaign for a tally of nine points. Likewise, 16th seed Sakshi also finished with a hat-trick of wins and tallied eight points.

Indian performers:

Under-14 (girls): 1. D. Jishitha (9 points); 9-10. L. Jyothsna, Saina Salonika (7 each); 14. Mrudul Dehankar (6.5); (open): 2. Arjun Erigaisi (9); 4. Anuj Shrivatri (8); 19. Koustav Chatterjee (6.5).

Under-16 (girls): 14. Harshita Guddanti (6.5); 25. Meenal Gupta (5.5); 41. V. Toshali (4.5); (open): 9. Mitrabha Guha (7); 14. Rajdeep Sarkar (6.5); 41. Vatsal Singhania (5).

Under-18 (girls): 2. Sakshi Chitlange (8); 4. Arpita Mukherjee (7.5); (open): 8. Kaustuv Kundu (7); 15. C. Sai Vishwesh (6.5); 19. V. Karthik (6).