Date:02/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/02/stories/2009010256541700.htm

Sport - Chess

Mitrabha made to sweat

Nagpur: Top seeds Mitrabha Guha of Bengal and Bansi Prathima of Andhra had to walk a tight rope before winning and staying among the 16 boys and 10 girls in the lead at the end of the third round in the National under-7 chess championship at Agrasen Bhavan here on Thursday.

Mitrabha trained by GM Dibyendu Barua in Kolkata lost material on move 15 via a pin but wriggled out to defeat Nayan Kumar of Bihar in 56 moves. Bansi Prathima dominated the game and missed several winning sequences. When she had an opportunity, Priyanka of Tamil Nadu, in turn, missed her chance and blundered her queen to a discovered check. Important results: Third round: Boys: Nayan Kumar (Bih) 2 lost to Mitrabha Guha (Ben) 3, Nishit Mohanty (Ori) 3 bt Aayush Karwaa (MP) 2, Nitish Belurkar (Goa) 3 bt Abijai Anand (TN) 2. Girls: K. Priyanka (TN) 2 lost to Bansi Prathima (AP) 3, M.C. Akshaya (TN) 3 bt Sakshi Gaunkar (Goo) 2, Anjali Murthy (MP) 3 bt Samriddha Ghosh (Ben) 2.

Second round: Boys: Mitrabha Guha (Ben) bt Kirupanidhi (Pon), Aayush Karwaa (MP) bt Kushagra Gupta (Del), Abhijai Anand (TN) bt S. Muthuhariswaran (TN).

Girls: Bansi Prathima (AP) bt Neeti Tatiya (Mah), S. Monika (TN) bt Abirama Srinidhi (TN), P. Nithya (AP) bt Aditi Gaunkar (Goa). — Arvind Aaron