Pranesh, Tanisha emerge champions in national sub-junior chess ch'ship

At the Indira Gandhi Stadium, Pranesh won the ninth and final round of the open section against Kushal Jani to tally 7.5 points for a winning margin of half-a-point over nine players

Trophy winners: (From left): Tamil Nadu’s trio of third-placed S. Harshad, runner-up V. Pranav, champion M. Pranesh, girls’ champion Maharasthra’s Tanisha Boramanikar, runner-up Bengal's Mrittika Mallik and third-placed UP's Shubhi Gupta with dignitaries after the National sub-junior chess championship in New Delhi on Tuesday.

M. Pranesh (Tamil Nadu) and Tanisha Bormanikar (Maharashtra) followed contrasting ways to claim the honours in the National sub-junior chess championship here on Tuesday.

At the Indira Gandhi Stadium, Pranesh won the ninth and final round of the open section against Kushal Jani to tally 7.5 points for a winning margin of half-a-point over nine players. In fact, Pranesh led a Tamil Nadu sweep of the top-four spots.

In the girls’ section, Tanisha drew final round with Bengal’s Anushka Gupta. She was joined at 7.5 points by the victorious duo of Mrittika Mallick and Shubhi Gupta. Tanisha was awarded the title due to superior tie-break score.

Important 9th round results:

Open: M. Pranesh (TN) bt Kushal Jani (Guj); S. Rohit (TN) bt Mahendra Teja (AP); V. Pranav (TN) bt Ritvik Krishnan (Mah); Daksh Goyal (Del) lost to S. Harshad (TN); Mayank Chakraborty (Asm) bt Mukund Agarwal (Guj); Jai Sankar Subramanium (TN) bt Ankit Ray (Ben); Goutham Krishna (7) bt Gaurang Bagwe (Mah); Dishank Bajaj (Mah) bt Shaik Sumer Arsh (Tel); Kaivalya Nagare (Mah) drew with Samyak Dharewa (Ben); Ethan Vaz (Goa) bt Hari Chandran (6).

Girls: Tanisha Boramanikar (Mah) drew with Anushka Gupta (Ben); V. Sarayu (Tel) lost to Mrittika Mallick (Ben); Fatima Marium (Bih) lost to Shubhi Gupta (UP); Dhanashree Khairmode (Mah) bt Anupam Sreekumar (Ker); Mohitha Vakcheri (AP) bt Dakshita Kumawat (Raj); S. Pournami (Ker) lost to Sachi Jain (Del).

Final standings:

Open: 1. Pranesh (7.5), 2-10. Pranav, Harshad, Rohit, Ethan, Mayank, Kushal, Dishank, Goutham and Jai Sankar (7 each).

Girls: 1-3. Tanisha, Mrittika, Shubhi (7.5 each); 4-7. Anushka, Mohitha, Sachi and Dhanashree.