Chess
V S Raahul and B Savitha Shri win the Asian Junior Chess Championship title
Both the players finished a point clear of the rest of the field to emerge champions as the Indians dominated.
Young Indian chess player B Savitha Shri (Source: Savitha Shri/Facebook)
India's V S Raahul and B Savitha Shri won the boys and girls titles in the Asian Junior chess championship in Sri Lanka on Thursday. Both the players finished a point clear of the rest of the field to emerge champions as the Indians dominated.
The 18-year old Raahul scored 7.5 points and finished ahead of compatriots Mitraba Guha (7 points) and G B Harshavardhan (6.5 points), who took the second and third places respectively. Indian players K Raghunandan and Vardaan Nagpal took fourth and sixth spots in the final standings.
Raahul remained unbeaten in the nine-round event and scored six wins to go with three draws. He also secured his maiden GM norm. Guha, who became a Grandmaster last month, was the top-seed and a defeat to Raahul in the fifth round and a draw against Sri Lanka's Ranindu Liyanage in round two, hurt his chances.
In the girls section, Savitha Shri drew her ninth-round game against Chaindi Attanayake (Sri Lanka) to finish with seven points and on top. Fellow Indian player K Priyanka took second place, ahead of Iran's Anousha Mahdian, though, the two finished with 6.5 points due to a better tie-break score.
The 14-year old Savitha Shri also won her maiden Woman Grandmaster norm. She was unbeaten in the tournament, won five games and drew two.
