Aravindh upsets IM Raghuram Rao
LUCKNOW: The only international master in the fray Prasanna Raghuram Rao of Maharashtra faced a biggest upset in the Junior National Under-19 Chess Championship here on Saturday, losing to Tamil Nadu’s VR Aravindh Chithambaram.
Playing with white pieces young Aravindh didn’t allow his experienced rival to think much before scoring full one point in the fifth round of the boys category. The win, however, helped Aravindh to lead the table with five points. FIDE master Sayantan Das of West Bengal and Saumil Padhya of Maharashtra with 4.5 points each were placed second and third, respectively.
Rao with four points shared the fourth position with P Lokesh, Akash Pe Iyer, N Krishna Teja, P Ganesh, Rangarajan Roshan, Ja Gireman, Nr Visakh, M Harihara Sudan and J Yohan.
In the girls category, Tamil Nadu’s P Michelle Catherina continued her winning spree, defeating Women FIDE Master M Mahalakshmi also from Tamil Nadu to lead the table with five points at the end of the fifth round. WFM J Saranya, who defeated G Lasya of Andhra Pradesh on Friday, was placed second with 4.5 points.
Mahalakshmi along with WFP Rucha Pujari, Pv Nandhindhaa, WFMGK Monnisha, Shekhar Madhurima and Shetty Shristi J shared the third position.
Among the UP girls, Ayushi Jaiswal (1.5 pts) scored her first win in the event, defeating Parul Kumar Mukesh of Himachal Pradesh, but two other contestant Radhika Garg and Sanskriti Goyal (both 2 pts) each had to face loses on Friday in the fifth round.