Top seeds crumble, underdogs take centrestage in National U-7 chess

Nagpur: On a day of fluctuating fortunes, top seeds in both the open and girls groups suffered their first defeat in the U-7 National Chess Championship, currently underway at the GH Raisoni Institute of Engineering and Technology hall, Shraddha Park, Wadi-Hingna Link Road, on Thursday.While the top five-rated players in the open group lost their lead, Bihar’s sixth-seeded Rudra Pratap and Joshua Katarapu from Andhra Pradesh continued their winning momentum to share the top position with full six points.In the girls’ group, Punjab’s unrated Myra Rathore caused the first major upset in the tournament when she utilised her opening advantage with the white pieces well to stun top-seeded Udhriti Bhattacharya in the fifth round.

In the evening session, Udhriti fought her way back and garnered full point against Rihanshi Munagala in the sixth round, while Myra failed to continue her giant-killing run. Third seed Aaditri Majumdar ended Myra’s winning run to share the lead with Liyaa Krishnan, who defended well with her black pieces to prevail over Rayanika Shivaram on the second board.At the end of the sixth round, two players each in both the groups share the lead, while three boys and nine girls follow the leaders at the joint second position.

RESULTS (Round 6)OPEN: Joshua Magnus Katarapu (6) bt Vislavath Lavik Ram (5), Vivaan Kadam (5.5) drew with Sathwik Bhat (5.5), Shivansh Gowda (5) lost to Rudra Pratap (6), Pednekar Ivaan Alkesh (4.5) lost to Madhav Mundhara (5.5), Sathvik Sharath (4) lost to Shivansh Basu (5);GIRLS: Aaditri Majumdar (6) bt Myra Rathore (5), Rayanika Shivaram (5) lost to Liyaa Krishnan (6), Rihanshi Munagala (4.5) lost to Udhriti Bhattacharya (5), Anayra Rathore (4) lost to Shaik Shazwa (5), Navya R (5) bt Aradhya Debnath (4).