Vikramjeet stunned

BIKANER, July 27: Unrated EP Nirmal of Kerala upset third-seed Vikramjeet Singh Manipur while other top players scored wins on the opening round of the eighth National U-18 chess boys and girls which began here today.

Former world U-10 champion P Harikrishna Andhra Pradesh, P Mahesh Chandran Tamil Nadu, S Kidambi TN, RR Laxman TN, S Satyapragyan Orissa and former world U-8 medallist MR Venkatesh TN won.

Among boys. Asian junior champion Tejas Bakre Gujarat was absent.

Among girls, all favoured players notched up full point with Swati Ghate Maharashtra, world U-10 girls champion Koneru Humpy AP, IM Nisha Mohota WB and Asian sub-junior champion Aarthi Ramaswamy TN scoring easy wins in the nine-round tournament which has attracted 56 boys and 42 girls.