School chess: Parnavi, Rishi take sole lead

ParnaviRane and Rishi Kadam scored crucial wins in the penultimate round in the girls and boys U-14 categoryofthe Mahavir Prasad Morarka Memorial Maharashtra State Schools Chess Championship here Sunday.

In the girls eighth round, Parnavi, playing with the black pieces, defeated SaileeDesai to snatch the lead at the top.

Overnight leaders Saniya Tadavi and Kiyarra Khaturia, both with 6 points, suffered defeats and are now in joint second place.

Playing with black pieces, Saniya lost to Sanskruti Sawant on the second board, while Kiyarra went down to Maitreyee Mane on the third board.

In the boys eighth round, Rishi Kadam, playing with the white, easily defeatedYash Gogate on the top board and pocketed full point to remain in the lead.

On the second board, Rachit Lund, also playing with the white, outwitted Ayush Mayekar to stay in second position.

Results: Girls U-14 (round 8):Sailee Desai (4. 5) lost Parnavi Rane (6.5), Sanskruti Sawant (5) lost Saniya Tadavi (6), Maitreyee Mane ((3.5) lost Kiyarra Khaturia (6), Ayushi Bhatiya (4) lost Miloni Sonpal (4.5), Radhika Chopra (4.5) beat Jenika Jain (3), Vaibhavi Devlekar (4) drew Bharati Jain (3), Prisha Kapadia (4.5) beat Dhruvi Shah (1.5), Kirti Suryarao (4) beat Pratiksha Jaikanth (0.5).

Boys U-14 (round 8):Rishi Kadam (7.5) beat Yash Gogate (4.5), Rachit Lund (7) drew Ayush Mayekar (5), Shyam Agrawal 4.5) lost Pranav Nankar (5.5), Husain Nakara (4.5) lost Mihir Sarvade (5.5), Aum Charodia (5) drew Hriday Sangoi (5) , Vedant Nagarkatte (5) drew Kshitij Mudliyar (5), Sudhanshu Nikam (5) beat Anirudh Nair (4), Gurav Sanmil (5) beat Pratik Kunder (4), Krishna Bhatt (4.5) drew Mandar Parkar (4.5).