Orissa suffers setback in National u-9 chess

Orissa suffered a setback in the open category of the 23rd National Under-9 Chess Championship as Rudraskhya Parida suffered his first defeat in five games at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai today. Parida, who shared the lead with six others after the end of fourth round, lost his fifth round clash with Abhimanyu Puranik (Maharashtra) to slip to the third place, which he shared with 15 others, including statemate Rakesh Kumar Jena (4). Among seven other Orissa boys, Sourav Mohanty (3), Subhasis Barik (3) and Muhammed Hussain (2) won their respective games: Brajeswar Das (2.5), Raghav Kandoi and Samaresh Mahapatra tasted defeats, while Nishit Mohanty was held to a draw. In the girls’ category, two players from Orissa _ Sovna Sonali Jena and Sweta Senapati _ registered wins in the fifth round to share the third place with five others. Among other four Orissa girls, Adyasa Patnaik (3), Adyasa Mahapatra (2) and Sudeepa Sahu (2) lost to their respective opponents, while Akankshya Nayak (1.5) escaped with a draw. Orissa results (Round 5): Open cetegory: Rudrakshya Parida (4) lost to Abhimanyu Puranik (Mah,4.5), Rakesh Kumar Jena (4) bt Sharan Rao (Kar,3), Brajeswar Das (2.5) lost to Sourjyendu Malakar (WB,3.5), Sourav Mohanty (3) bt Jaskeerat Singh (Cahnd,2), Raghav Kandoi (2) lost to MS Arun (TN,3), Subhasis Barik (3) bt KS Sameer Bhave (TN,2), Nishit Mohanty (2) drew with Ameya Patil (Kar, 2), Muhammed Hussain (2) bt Dhruva (Kar,1), Samaresh Mahapatra (1) lost to S Hariharan (TN,2), Girls category: Adyasa Patnaik (3) lost to V Toshali (AP,4.5), Sweta Senapati (4) bt Akanksha Hagwane (Mah,3), Sovna Sonali Jena (4) bt K Krithigga (TN,3), Adyasa Mahapatra (2) lost to K Priyanka (TN,2), Sudeepa Sahoo (2) lost to Hilmi Parveen (Ker,3), Akankshya Nayak (1) R Nandhini (TN,1.5).