Karthik, Aakanksha and Sakshi maintain lead after 8 rounds

National Junior ( U-19 ) Open & Girls Chess Championship 2018

Report by I.A Manjunatha Murthy

GM Karthik Venkatraman of Andhra Pradesh emerged as sole-leader at the end of 8th round in the National Junior Open Chess Championship, organized by Delhi Chess Association on behalf of All India Chess Federation.

Meanwhile, Maharastra’s WIM Aakanksha Hagawane and WIM Chitlange Sakshi are jointly leading in the girl’s section with 7.0/8 points.

Karthik continued his form and won the game. This victory made him sole leader of the National Junior Chess Championship.

In the eighth round, on the top board, India’s 55th Grandmaster Karthik Venkataraman played against FM Nitish Belurkar of Goa. Nitish played Kings Indian defence in the opening. On 12th move he moved his bishop to d7. Karthik considered that it may not be so good option. Hereafter Nitish played passively and soon Karthik grabbed the initiative. Nitish surrendered on the 38th move.

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On second board Pranavananda V of Andhra Pradesh played against CM Aronyak Ghosh of West Bengal. Aronyak played Sicilian defence. Pranavananda said in the opening he missed the move order so position become equal. Thereafter, both players played safely and agreed to draw after completing 30 moves.

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In the girls section, On top board WCM Jyothsna L of Tamil Nadu played against WIM Aakanksha Hagawane, the reigning Asian Junior Rapid Chess Bronze Medal winner. Aakanksha opted for Benoni defence and she was having a sligh better advantage. Jyothsna had defended the position successfully. On 56th move, both agreed for draw.

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On second board WIM Chitlange Sakshi of Maharastra played against statemate Bakshi Rutuja. It was the longest game in the tournament. Sakshi won the game in the queen endgame by winning an extra pawn though she missed winning move in the early stage of middle game. Rutuja fought very hard to defend the game but on 92nd move she accepted her defeat.

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WIM Aakanksha Hagawane and WIM Chitlange Sakshi are in joint lead with 7 points.

Pairings

Open

Round 9 on 2018/12/04 at 10.00AM

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	12	CM	Aronyak Ghosh	2343	6½		7½	GM	Karthik Venkataraman	2527	1
2	2	IM	Rakesh Kumar Jena	2394	6½		6½	FM	Rajdeep Sarkar	2362	7
3	15	FM	Nitish Belurkar	2310	6½		6½	IM	Rahul Srivatshav P	2391	3
4	6		Sammed Jaykumar Shete	2368	6½		6½		Pranavananda V	2230	23
5	27		Aaryan Varshney	2200	6½		6	FM	Rathanvel V S	2349	10
6	32		Harshavardhan G B	2163	6		6	FM	Anuj Shrivatri	2357	8
7	9		Neelash Saha	2351	6		6		Panda Sambit	2132	35
8	20	FM	Wagh Suyog	2240	6		6		Bhavesh Mahajan	1703	103
9	29		Dhananjay S	2180	5½		5½	IM	Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari	2378	5
10	31		Srihari L	2165	5½		5½	FM	Audi Ameya	2347	11

Girls

Round 9 on 2018/12/04 at 10.00AM

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	WIM	Aakanksha Hagawane	2264	7		6½		Pandey Srishti	1825	29
2	4	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	2210	6½		7	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2237	3
3	8	WFM	Arpita Mukherjee	2090	6½		6½	WCM	Jyothsna L	2060	10
4	15		Bakshi Rutuja	1981	6		6	WFM	Meghna C H	1879	21
5	17	WIM	Chandreyee Hajra	1963	6		6		Rindhiya V	1773	36
6	5		Priyanka K	2207	5½		6		Ghosh Samriddhaa	1870	22
7	24	WCM	Bristy Mukherjee	1868	5½		5½	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	2293	1
8	20	WCM	Jain Nityata	1891	5½		5½	WFM	Makhija Aashna	2197	6
9	7	WCM	Mrudul Dehankar	2136	5½		5½	WFM	Lakshmi C	1842	27
10	12	WFM	Dhyana Patel	2002	5½		5½		Shivika Rohilla	1780	35