Top seed Aravindh Chithambaram tactically outplayed Aniruddh Aiyengar in 39 moves to be among the six leaders, with full four points, in the Ramco National under-13 chess championship here on Monday. The others are Muthaiah, Visakh Nr, Grahesh, Ritviz and R. Akash. On board two, Visakh used his outside passed pawn to defeat Elancheralathan in a minor pieces ending after 66 moves.
In the girls’ section, National under-11 champion Vaishali’s superiority was never in doubt in her 39-move win over Manasa. She won a pawn on move 20 and managed to double her rooks on the seventh rank, weaving mate threats and collecting more pawns. Manasa gave up when mate in one could not be avoided. In a well-contested encounter, Baksh’s endgame skills helped her win a marathon 89-move queen and pawn ending against Bidhar Rutumbara.
The experienced Shiny Das saw a 29-move tactic that helped her win a piece and defeat Priyanka.
The results (fourth round): Boys: Aniruddh Aiyengar (TN) 3 lost to Aravindh Chithambaram (TN) 4; Visakh Nr (TN) 4 bt P. Elancheralathan (TN) 3; Chandar Raju (Ker) 3 lost to Ritviz Parab (Goa) 4; AL Muthaiah (TN) 4 bt Audi Ameya (Goa) 3; R. Akash (TN) 4 bt Rishubh Naik (Goa) 3; Y. Grahesh (AP) 4 bt Rohit Vassan (TN) 3.
Girls: H.R. Manasa (Kar) 3 lost to R. Vaishali (TN) 4; Bidhar Rutumbara (Odi) 3 lost to Bakshi Rutuja (Mah) 4; K. Priyanka (TN) 3 lost to Shiny Das (Tri) 4; Tejaswini Sagar (Mah) 3.5 bt Bhagya Jayesh (Ker) 3; Riya Savant (Goa) 3.5 bt C.M.N. Sunyuktha (TN) 2.5; D. Meera (TN) 3.5 bt Nimita Joshi (Mah) 2.5.
