Date:08/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/08/stories/2006100807561600.htm

Sport - Chess

Maiden title for Arjun

AURANGABAD: Arjun Tiwari won the National under-25 chess championship here on Saturday. It was the maiden National title for the seventh seed, who was playing in his hometown.

The 21-year-old Arjun defeated Rishipal Singh with black on the second board to finish with 7.5 points from nine rounds, half-a-point ahead of Vikas Sharma, who took the runner-up spot. Top seed Umakant Sharma ended up third.

The results: Ninth round:

Vikas Sharma (Pun) 7 bt Umakant Sharma (TN) 6.5; Rishipal Singh (AP) 5.5 lost to Arjun Tiwari (Mah) 7.5; K. Ratnakaran (Ker) 6 lost to Prathamesh Mokal (Mah) 6.5; M. Vinay Kumar (AP) 5.5 lost to Araveenderpreet Singh (Pun) 6.5; P. Karthikeyan (TN) 6.5 bt Rajesh Kumar (Jha) 5.5; S. Vikramjit Singh (AP) 6 drew with Vikramaditya Kamble (Mah) 5.5; Punit Jaiswal (Jha) 5 lost to Shailenedr Kumar Bajpai (UP) 6; Ved Prakash Singh (Bih) 6 bt Atul Tahale (Mah) 5; Aniket Kaushik (Kar) 4.5 lost to R. Preetham Sharma (TN) 5.5; Sudhir Kumar Sinha (MP) 5.5 bt Ankit Rajpara (Guj) 4.5.

The standings: 1. Arjun Tiwari 7.5, 2. Vikash Sharma 7, 3-6. Umakant Sharma, P. Karthikeyan, Araveenderpreet Singh and Prathamesh Mokal 6.5, 7-10. K. Ratnakaran, S. Vikramjit Singh, Shailender Kumar Bajpai and Ved Prakash Sinha 6.