Harikrishna shocked

GUNTUR, Sept 27: P Harikrishna, who's optimistic of making it a double, suffered a stunning blow at the hands of Tamil Nadu's P Laxminars...

GUNTUR, Sept 27: P Harikrishna, who8217;s optimistic of making it a double, suffered a stunning blow at the hands of Tamil Nadu8217;s P Laxminarsimhan in the second round of the U-14 category of Chalapathi III Children8217;s National Chess Championship which got under way at the Chalapathi Residential Lam here today.

Hari, who had a satisfactory position till the 22nd move made a blunder from which he never recovered.

8220;I want to erase it from my memory. It sometimes happens. Anyway, I will fight back to do well8221; said the disappointed Hari, while the TN8217;s CAPA boy was jubilant and said, 8220;to beat Hari is no joke as he is in top form. It is big surprise for me also as I played him for the first time and it gives me extra confidence to do better in the remaining rounds.8221;

Hari, nevertheless kept his u-12 hat-trick title hopes alive as he had no difficulty in overcoming Lashu Ravin Ker and Sai Srinivas AP in the first and second rounds respectively.Top-seed MR Venkatesh TN, the U-14 boys8217; defending champion wonhis games without much trouble. And, if nothing goes wrong he seems to win the title again.

There was one more upset in the girls U-14 group. The second seed TS Subhashini, of Tamil Nadu was held to a draw by AP8217;s Krishna Manjula.But, Karnataka8217;s Chitra Sridharan, the defending champion, having struggled to win the first round prolonged game against A Deepa her colleague, had a smooth win in the second round against Tamil Nadu8217;s P Malarselvi.

Koneru Humpy maintained her brilliant form from where he left in Aurangabad as she got the better of her opponents quite comfortably.

Goodrick Chess Academis8217; Ananya Sarkar too exhibited a superb performance as she defeated her opponents easily.

Results Second round

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Boys: MR Venkatesh 2 points bt Rohan Shandilya Bihar, 1; P Laxminarsimhan CAPA, 2, bt P Harikrishna AP, 1; A Arghyadeep Das GDCA, 2 bt K Apoorva Kar, 1; P Anand TN, 2 bt C Praveen Kumar TN, 1, Valay Parikh Guj, 2 bt BK Nayak Ori, 1, K Anagabalan Pon, 1 lost to PranavM Akolkar Mah, 2, M Satyajit AP, 1 lost to SR Misra Ori, 2, P Kumaresh TCA, 1 lost to S Pande Mah, 2.

Girls: Chitra Sridharan Kar 2, Ananya Sarkar GDCA 2, Alka Das Bihar 1, Pannaga Magal Mah 2, K Krishna Manjusha .5 AP 1, JE Kavitha CPTCA 1, BV Deepti AP .5, P Vijaya Laxmi AP .5, Neenu A Ker 1, K Ramya AP 0, J Nalini POND 1, K Thilakavathy PON 1, P. Malarselvi TN 1, Nema Jaiswal Bhir 1, Sandya Ker 1, M. Priyadarshini TN 1, TS Subhashini TN .5, Shradda Samavi Mah .5, M. Rajadarshini Top Pyramid .5, K Swetha AP .5, A Deepa Kar 0, Vaidehi Dave Guj 1, J. Megha Kar 1, K. Sindhu AP 1.