Ramraje upsets Vaidya

Earlier in the first-round, Isha Karwade, an 11-year-old student of Bal Shikshan Mandir (Pune), held top seed and IM Sharad Tilak of UBI in 45 moves in a Sicilian Defence game with white pieces. On the contrary Isha mishandled the opening and threw away the advantage and agreed draw on the 45th move.

On the fourth board, VKN Solanki of MTNL defeated Prakash Gupte in 35 moves with black pieces in an English opening.

At the time of going to the press, FIDE Master Sajandas Joshi of UBI was fighting for a draw against Rucha Karwade, twin sister of Isha, with black pieces. Rucha had twoknights and four pawns against Joshi’s one bishop and six pawns.

Important Results:

Second Round: Dhananjay Ramraje 2 bt IM Arun Vaidya 1; IM Sekhar Sahu 2 bt G Banerjee (WB) 1; Prakash Gupte 1 lost to VKN Solanki 2; S S Kadam 1 lost to Swati Ghate (Pune) 2; SW Hingane (BPT) 1 lost to Yashraj Aidasani (Mumbai) 2; S Parmar 1.5 drew with D Ravishankar 1.5; Arjun Uberoi (Kolhapur) 2 bt Harshu Ambardekar 1.