Bengaluru: Manager of State Bank of Mysore, Padma Priya inaugurated the 9th round of the 26th National Under 17 Open and Girls Chess Championship 2015 organized by United Karnataka Chess Association in association with Bharath Electronic Officer’s Club Bangalore and under the auspices of All India Chess Federation at Bharath Electronic Officers Club, Jalahalli.
At the end of the 9th round, in the open section, Vaishali R and Rajdeep Sarkar were at the top with 7.5 points each. Pranavananda V of Andra Pradesh took second place with 7 points. Krishna Teja of Andra Pradesh and Dananjay of Chattisgarh are in third place.
Krishna Teja of Andra Pradesh and Rajdeep Sarkar (2233) of West Bengal played a semi Slav Opening. Teja had advantage in the opening itself, but could not convert it. He offered a draw when the position became equal. Rajdeep agreed on 20th move.
Karthik V of Andra Pradesh and WFM Vaishali R of Tamil Nadu played out a Veresov Opening on the second board. Vaishali played well in the prepared line and won in 39 moves. Pranavananda V of Andra Pradesh and Sai Vishwesh of Tamil Nadu played a Benko/Volga Gambit on the third board. Pranavananda defeated the higher rated Vishwesh in 70 moves.
In the Girls section, Varshini V of Tamil Nadu remained at the top after winning the ninth round and scoring 8.5 points. Vantika Agrawal with 7 points obtained the second spot. Mahalakshmi and Divya Lakshmi of Tamil Nadu, Toshali of AP and Aditee Prabhugaonkar of Goa are in a joint third position after scoring 6.5 points each.
Asian Youth Under 14 Girls Champion 2015, WFM Varshini V (2105) of Tamil Nadu and WFM Potluri Supreetha of Andra Pradesh played a closed Ruy Lopez on top board. At the start of the game, Supreetha had one and half pint less and tried to share the points if possible. She blundered blucking to time pressure and resigned in 34 moves.
Divya Lakshmi R and WFM Mahalakshmi M of Tamil Nadu played on second board. Divya Lakshmi got prepared positions in the middle game, which helped her to pull down Mahalakshmi from the higher position. Mahalakshmi resigned on the 38th move.
WFM Rutumbara Bidhar of Odisha and Vantika Agrawal of Delhi played a Kings Indian Miscellaneous line in the third board. Rutumbara lost on the 31st move.