Meenakshi finishes second to Nisha

KOZHIKODE, FEB 18: Meenakshi Subbaraman (Capa Academy, Chennai) finished behind champion Nisha Mohota (West Bengal) in the 14th National J...

KOZHIKODE, FEB 18: Meenakshi Subbaraman (Capa Academy, Chennai) finished behind champion Nisha Mohota (West Bengal) in the 14th National Junior Girls Chess Championship on Friday, thereby ensuring her participation in the Asian Juniors.

Meenakshi drew her eighth and last round game with Monalisa Malakar (West Bengal) to end on a tie for second place with Sasinas Haritha (Kerala), Pazha Sivakami (TN), Swati Ghate (LIC) and Baisakhi Das (West Bengal). All of them totalled 5.5 points, 1.5 points behind Nisha and were placed 2-6 in that order on progressive tie-break.

Sasinas Haritha misplayed a promising position in Sicilian Defence against Baisakhi Das and missed a good chance to better her third place finish in the National Junior at Calicut University two years ago. She lost a piece after making a wrong pawn push on move 19 and was pushed to the third place. Haritha will play in the Asian Juniors as India will be hosting the event this year.

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Top 10 placings: 1 Nisha Mohota 7, 2 Meenakshi 5.5, 3 Sasinas Haritha 5.5, 4 Pazha Sivakami 5.5, 5 Swati Ghate 5.5, 6 Baisakhi Das 5.5, 7 MR Sangeetha 5, 8 JE Kavitha 5, 9 Nilavoli 5, 10 Monalisa Malakar 5.

Topboard results (8th round): Nisha Mohota (WB) 7 drew Swati Ghate (LIC) 5.5, Sasinas Haritha (Ker) 5.5 lost to Baisakhi Das (WB) 5.5, Monalisa Malakar (WB) 5 drew Meenakshi (Capa) 5.5, Anuradha Beniwal (Har) 4.5 lost to Pazha Sivakami (TN) 5.5, Nilavoli (Capa) 5 drew C V Rajalakshmi (Chromepet) 4.5, M R Sangeetha (TN) 5 bt Eesha Karvade (Mah) 4, J E Kavitha (AICF) 5 bt Isai Amudhu (Chennai) 4, Nazia Nona (Kerala) 4 drew Niranjini (T Nagar) 4.

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