Chess | Jyothsna stuns Srija

Nandhini outwits Pratyshua

Big scalp: L. Jyothsna pulled off a surprise win over over fifth seed Srija Seshadri.

It was a day of surprises yet again with L. Jyothsna of Tamil Nadu pulling it off over fifth seed Srija Seshadri and Nandhini Sairapalli of Goa outwitting eighth seed Pratyshua Bodda of Andhra Pradesh in the 46th National women’s chess championship at the Chettinad Public School here on Saturday.

But Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB), Bhakti Kulkarni (Air India) and Divya Deshmukh (Maharashtra), the top three seeds, marched into the third round without much difficulty.

However, six time champion IM S. Vijayalakshmi survived some anxious moments before splitting points with Y. Saranya.

Sanskriti Goyal (Uttar Pradesh) held three-time National champion and sixth seed Mary Ann Gomes (PSPB) to a creditable draw and National under-17 champion K. Priyanka (Tamil Nadu)seemed quite satisfied sharing points with Siddhali Shetye (Maharashtra).

But before the start of the third round, the players relaxed a bit celebrating the International Chess Day with Arun Kumar, the vice-chairman of the Chettinad school.

Important results (second round, TN unless specified): Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB) 2 bt G. Sandhya (AP) 1; Potluri Saye Srreezza (TS) 1 lost to Bhakti Kulkarni (AI) 2; Y. Saranya 1.5 drew with S. Vijayalakshmi (AI) 1.5; Srija Seshadri 1 lost to L. Jyothsna 2; Sanskriti Goyal (UP) 1.5 drew with Mary Ann Gomes (PSPB) 1.5; Nandhini Saripalli (Goa) 2 bt Pratyusha Bodda (AP) 1; P.V. Nandhidhaa 2 bt V. Toshali (AP) 1; C.H. Meghna (Rlys) 1 lost to Vantika Agrawal (Del) 2; M. Mahalakshmi M (Rlys) 1.5 drew with Dhyana Patel (Guj) 1.5.

Srishti Pandey (Mah) 1 lost to Michelle Catherina 2; Nisha Mohota (PSPB) 2 bt Potluri Supreetha (AP) 1; Siddhali Shetye (Mah) 1.5 drew with K. Priyanka 1.5; C.M.N. Sunyuktha 2 bt Isha Sharma (Kar) 1; Neha Singh (Bih) 1 lost to S. Meenakshi (AI) 2 .