Delhi pair leads

PARIS, August 22: Kiran Nadar and Satyanarayana of Delhi took first position at the end of session-I of the 3 session elimination in the J M Weston mixed pairs in a record field of 598 entries.

Nadar got everything correct in the set of 24 boards. Although the pair has to play two more sessions, the first position in this huge field is the best performance by an Indian pair in any World championship. A score of 68.08 per cent places the Indian pair in a comfortable position to qualify for the final stage of this event. Eighteen pairs from India are in the fray to make it to the 260 pairs finals that will be played tomorrow over two sessions. The event is transnational whereby two players from different countries can participate.

Jaggy Shivdasani from Mumbai, the only Indian to have won two American national titles, in partnership with C Goldberg from USA scored 59.07 per cent to take 44th position. Dr Bomsi Wadia and Uma Singh from Mumbai on rank 136 with a score of 54.79 per cent rank third in the Indiancontingent.