National under-13 chess: Hirthikesh, Vaishali emerge champions

Top seeds P.R. Hirthikesh and R. Vaishali, both from Tamil Nadu, justified their billings to emerge as champions in the National under-13 chess championship at Bistupur, Jharkhand, on Sunday.

Hirthikesh scored nine points from 11 rounds to emerge as the clear winner. Raja Harshit, Rajdeep, Rakesh Kumar Jena and Rahul Srivatsav, scored 8.5 points each and finished in that order, when tie-breakers were applied.

Vaishali’s performance was even more dominating in the girls’ event, as she triumphed by one full point.

The standings (after 11 rounds): 1. P.R. Hirthikesh 9; 2-5. Raja Harshit, Rajdeep Sarkar, Rakesh Kumar Jena and Rahul Srivatsav 8.5; 6-10. V.S. Rathanvel, Rahul Gurung, Bhavik Bharambe, Sadhu Adithya and Nishit Singh 8; 11-14. Aronyak Ghosh, Erigaisi Arjun, Sankalp Baliarsingh and Srijit Paul 7.5.

Girls: 1. R. Vaishali 9.5; 2. Vantika Agrawal 8.5; 3-5. Priyanka Nutakki, V. Toshali and Tarini Goyal 8; 6-10. Samridha Gosh, K. Priyanka, P. Supreetha, Saina Salonika and A. Harshini 7.5; 11-19. Rutumbara Bidhar, Bristy Mukherjee, Arpita Mukherjee, Srishti Pande, Anwesha Mishra, Harshita Guddanti, Ridhi Zantye, Stuti Bhanot and Khushi Khandelwal 7.