Anwesh, Padmini maintain second position

Orissa players tasted impressive success in the ninth round of the National Junior (under-19) Chess Championship with five of them registering wins and the other two settling for draws at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on today. Girls’ top seed Padmini Rout and boys’ No 12 Anwesh Upadhyaya held on to the second position with seven points each. WIM Padmini was held to a draw by Shalmali Gagare, while Anwesh beat Nikil P Shyam to post his fourth successive victory. Goa girl Bhakti Kulkarni (8.5) and Tamil Nadu boy S P Sethuraman (7.5) retained the sole lead in respective categories. Orissa results (Round 9): Girls: Padmini Rout (7) drew with Shalmali Gagare (Mah), Aparajita Gochhikar (6) beat M Khushboo (TN), Adyasha Patnaik (4) beat Surbhi Kumari (Bih). Boys: Anwesh Upadhyaya (7) beat Nikil P Shyam (TN), Swayams Mishra (6) beat G Akash (TN), Utkal Ranjan Sahoo (5.5) drew with S L Sarayanan (Ker), Biswajeet Nayak (4.5) beat Sunny Bedi (Raj). Pairings (Round 10): Girls: P Rout vs Pv Nadhidhaa (TN), A Gochhikar vs S Athirai (TN), A Patnaik vs A Sithalatchumi (TN). Boys: A Upadhyaya vs MR Lalith Babu (AP), S Mishra vs B Adhiban (TN), U R Sahoo vs B Kumaran (TN), B Nayak vs Neelesh Shankar (Bih).