Neelash, Priyanka Win Under-13 Titles

Neelash, Priyanka Win Under-13 Titles
By Arvind Aaron

Although the score lines were close after the penultimate round, leaders Neelash Saha of Bengal and Nutakki Priyanka of Andhra won to emerge National Under-13 champions at Gurgaon on September 7, 2015.

Neelash Saha’s final round opponent, Bengal team-mate, Aronyak Ghosh did not show up. Neelash gains 82.80 Elo from this event besides prize money and trophy. The important thing is that he will represent India in the 2016 World Under-14 Championships at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

Bhavik finished second and was impressive. He beat the champion and the top seed Iniyan while losing to Rahul Srivatshav for second place on 9.5. Iniyan loses 19.2 Elo for losing to the first and second placed while finishing third himself.

Priyanka was too strong and won against Samriddhaa to win the Girls’ section by a one point margin. Anwesha Mishra of Odisha beat C Lakshmi of Tamil Nadu for the second place on tie-break. The top two, Priyanka and Anwesha remained undefeated. Vantika Agrawal of Delhi drew the last round against Saina Salonika (Odi) to finish third on lower tie-break score.

Final placings (tie-break order):

Open: 1 Neelash Saha (WB) 10/11; 2 Bhavik C Bharambe (Mah) 9.5; 3-4. P Iniyan (TN), Aansh Gupta (Del) 8.5 each; 5-11. Rahul Srivatshav (Tel), Saurabh Anand (Bih), Erigaisi Arjun (Tel), Aronyak Ghosh (WB), Panda Sambit (Odi), Ayush Bhai Mehta (MP), Krishnater Kushager (Mah) 8 each…196 players.

Girls: 1 Nutakki Priyanka (AP) 10/11; 2-3. Anwesha Mishra (Odi), Vantika Agrawal (Del) 9 each; 4-5. Bommini Akshaya (AP), Sanskriti Goyal (UP) 8 each; 6-10. C Lakshmi (TN), Saina Salonika (Odi), Rutvi Shah (Guj), R Srimathi (TN), Meenal Gupta (J&K) 7.5 each…106 players.