Dhyani's dream run halted

AHMEDABAD, DEC. 26. The dream run of local star Dhyani Dave (3) was halted on Tuesday when she lost to Priya Ratnam (4) of Bihar in the fourth round in under-9 girls category of the 14th National children's chess championship (for under-7 & 9 boys and girls) at the Orient Club here.

Meanwhile, other seeded stars had an easy day and garnered four points in their respective category.

In under-9 boys, unseeded West Bengal lad Nilesh Mukerjee continued his winning streak by defeating sixth seeded Yuzvendra S of Haryana. Nilesh now shares the top spot with his statemate and second seed Prabuddha Ghosh, Thounaojam Gobind and Abhisek Kelkar, both from Maharashtra, with four points each.

While in under-9 girls, it is a three-way tie for top honour amongst first, second and third seeds, D. Meenu, I. Ramya Krishna, both from Andhra Pradesh, and Priya Ratnam (Bih), respectively, all of them with four points each.

Similarly in under-7 boys, first, second and third seeded, Kumar Gaurav of Bihar, P. Negi of Delhi and S. Ravi Teja of Kerala, respectively, share the lead with four poits each. While in under-7 girls, second and fourth seeds, P.L. Sahiti (AP) and P. Priya (TN) are leading the field with four points each.

In spite of playing with black pieces, local star Dhyani obtained a strong initiative against third seeded Priya Ratnam (Bih) and won a piece in the middle game emerging from Najdorf variation of Sicilian defence and was all set to create an another upset. But, experienced Priya hung on and set-up a deeply calculated beautiful check-mate trap which proved fatal for Dhyani.

Top seed Meenu and second seed Ramya survived against seventh seeded N. Pragna Patvi (AP) and Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa), respectively. Meenu had lost two pawns in the middle game, but later in queen & pawns ending she out-played her opponent to clinch the issue.

In Under-9 boys, lowly ranked Y Sandeep (AP) opted for English opening against second seed Prabuddha and developed strong middle game attack which won two pawns for him on move 37 and 38. But, Prabuddha held his nerve and in the end-game recovered the pawns and won the game.

lImportant results: under-9 boys: Y. Sandeep (AP-3) lost to Prabuddha Ghosh (WB-4), Nilesh Mukerjee (WB-4) beat Yuzvendra S. (Har-3), G.S. Sreejith (Ker-3) lost to Thounaojam Gobin (Mani-4), Anmol Razdan (Chd-3) lost to Abhisek Kelkar (Mah- 4), Sankalp Modwal (Del-3.5) bt K. Narayanan (Capa-3), B.Adithya (Mah-2.5) lost to V. Karthik (TN-3.5), Shreyans Daklia (MP-3.5) bt A.L. Palani (TN-2.5), J.J.Vale Prasadh (TN-2.5) lost to Arijit Ghosh (WB-3.5), S.Karthikeyan (TN-2.5) lost to Ajinkya G. (Mah- 3.5).

Under-9 girls: D. Meenu (AP-4) bt N. Pragna Patvi (AP-3), Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa-3) lost to I Ramya Krishna (AP-4), Priya Ratnam (Bih-4) bt Dhyani Dave (Guj-3), Gayathri M Velu (2.5) lost to P. Uthra (TN-3), Mrunmayee S (Mah- 3) bt A. Sitha Latchum (2).

Under-7 boys: Kumar Gaurav (Bih-4) bt Mohd. Fawazpa (Ker-3), Salman Faris (Ker-3) lost to P. Negi (Del- 4), S.Ravi Teja (AP-4) bt Dhaval Adhav (Mah-3), Indranil Chattopadhya (3.5) bt J. Jeava (TN-2.5), Th. Momo (Man-3) drew with Kh. Sanjoy (Man-3), Avinash Kumar (MP-2.5) lost to Tarun Murli (3.5), K.Priyadarshan (TN-2.5) lost to Aditya Udeshi (Mah- 3.5).

Under-7 girls: C.H. Savetha (TN-3) lost to P.L. Sahiti (AP-4), P.Priya (TN-4) bt G. Madan Shree (AP-3), Sumona Agrawal (Guj-2.5) lost to T.Amrutha Varshini (AP-3), Pallabi Roy (WB-3) bt Tanvi Mukund (Mah-2), V.Bhavna (AP-2) lost to Chaitramukund (Mah-3).

- UNI

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