Tamil Nadu’s dominance continued in the National sub-junior chess as Murali Karthikeyan and G.K. Monisha triumphed in the boys’ and girls’ categories of the 39th and 30th editions of the respective sections, here on Wednesday.
Karthikeyan got the better of Bengal’s Diptayan Ghosh in the tie-breaker after the two were tied on top after the final round with nine points each.
Second-seeded Karthikeyan won the tie-breaker by a narrow margin (75-74) as top seed Diptayan came close to making a good recovery in later rounds after faltering midway in the tournament.
The Bengal player remained the sole exception as Tamil Nadu players dominated the top positions.
B. Kumaran took the third position while third seed Aravindh Chithambaram came fourth.
Monisha, who won the National under-13 crown twice apart from topping in the under-17 and 9 categories once each — picked up her fifth National title with Wednesday’s victory.
Second-seeded Monisha, who also qualified for the forthcoming National women’s premier championship, was the favourite to win the title after having secured the overnight sole lead.
She faced a tough challenge from statemate R. Vaishali on the top board but managed to win in 55 moves.
Meanwhile, top seed M. Mahalakshmi recovered from her poor form in the last few rounds to beat Smaraki Mohanty of Odisha and finish second with 8.5 points.
Important results (final round): Boys: Diptayan Ghosh (Ben) 9 bt N.R. Vignesh (TN) 7.5; Murali Karthikeyan (TN) 9 bt Pranav Vijay (TN) 7.5; B. Kumaran (TN) 8.5 drew with Rishubh Naresh Naik (Goa) 8; Shaikh Nubairshah Mohammad (Mah) 8 bt Sidhant Mohapatra (Odi) 7.5; S. Ajay Krishna (TN) 7 lost to Aravindh Chithambaram (TN) 8
Rajdeep Sarkar (Ben) 7.5 drew with Harsha Bharathakoti (AP) 7.5; Mitrabha Guha (Ben) 7.5 drew with K. Anshuman (TN) 7.5; N.R. Visakh (TN) 7.5 bt N. Krishna Teja (AP) 7; Ritviz Parab (Goa) 7.5 bt Shailesh Dravid (Mah) 6.5; Saurabh Anand (Bih) 7 drew with A.L. Muthaiah (TN) 7.
Girls: G.K. Monisha (TN) 9 bt R. Vaishali (TN) 7.5; M. Mahalakshmi (TN) 8.5 bt Smaraki Mohanty (Odi) 7; V. Varshini (TN) 8 drew with Dhanashree Pandit (Mah) 7.5; R. Gayetri 8 (TN) bt Rutuja Bakshi (Mah) 7; C.H. Meghna (Ker) 8 bt R. Divya Lakshmi (TN) 7; Hilmi Parveen (Ker) 6.5 lost to Riya Savant (Goa) 7.5; Saloni Sapale (Mah) 7 drew with U. Ashwini (TN) 7; Shiny Das (Tri) 7.5 bt Bhagya Jayesh (Ker) 6.5; R. Dharani Sree (TN) 6.5 lost to Arpita Mukherjee (Ben) 7; Tejaswini Sagar (Mah) 6.5 drew with Khushi Dharewa (Ben) 6.5.
The top 10: Boys: 1. M. Karthikeyan (9); 2. Diptayan (9); 3. B. Kumaran (8.5); 4. A. Chithambaram (8); 5. Shaikh Nubairshah Mohammad (8); 6. Rihubh (8); 7. S. Mohapatra (7.5); 8. Harsha (7.5); 9. Pranav (7.5); 10. Vignesh (7.5).
Girls: 1. Monisha (9); 2. Mahalakshmi (8.5); 3. Varshini (8); 4. Meghna (8); 5. Gayetri (8); 6. Vaishali (7.5); 7. Riya (7.5); 8. Dhanashree (7.5); 9. Shiny (7.5); 10. Divya (7).
