S.L. Narayanan of Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai’s J. Saranya registered victories in the final round to emerge the national junior chess champions at Pune on Friday. For Narayanan, who is expected to become an International Master in August, it was his first national title, while Saranya added another title to her big collection.
It was a strange final round. The top three seeds lost their games and the fourth-seeded Narayanan clinched the title with a strong finish (5.5 from the last six rounds).
Important results (11th and final round): Open: G. Akash (TN) bt Aravindh Chithambaram (TN); S.L. Narayanan (Ker) bt B. Kumaran (TN); Fenil Shah (Guj) lost to Harsha Bharathkoti (Tel); Abhimanyu Puranik (Mah) bt Karthikeyan Murali (TN); Siddhant Mohapatra (Odi) bt Shardul Gagare (Mah).
Girls: P.V. Nandhidhaa (TN) drew with Michelle Catherina (TN); J. Saranya (TN) bt Srija Seshadri (TN); Madhurima Shekhar (Del) lost to G.K. Monnisha (TN).
Final standings (tie-break order):
Open: 1. Narayanan 9/11; 2-3 Bharathakoti & Akash 8.5 each; 4-6 Aravindh, Siddant), Abhimanyu 8 each; 7-10 Karthikeyan, Fenil, Praneeth Surya (Tel), and Mithil Ajgaonkar (Mah) 7.5 each.
Girls: 1. Saranya 9/11; 2-3 Michelle, Monnisha 8.5 each; 4-5 Nandhidhaa, Divya Lakshmi (TN) 8 each; 6-9 Madhurima), Vaishali, Tejaswini Sagar (Mah), G. Harshita (AP) 7.5 each; 10. Srija 7. — Arvind Aaron
