Sub-junior National chess medal eludes Utkal

Promising Orissa boy Utkal Ranjan Sahoo drew his 11th and last round duel with International Master Narayanan Srinath (Tamil Nadu) to finish fourth in the National Sub-junior (under-15) Chess Championship at Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai today. Utkal and five others tied for the third position with 8.5 points each. But according to Buchholz tie-break rule, the bronze medal was awarded to Karnataka’s D Yashas. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (Maharashtra) emerged champion with 9.5 points, while Srinath finished runner-up with 9 points. Among seven other Orissa boys, Mohammad Ashraf (24th) and Baivab Mishra (89th) could secure places in the top 100. In the girls’ category, Orissa’s top player Sunyasakta Satpathy finished fifth with eight points, while her statemate Krushna Mishra occupied the 68th place with five points. The gold and silver medals went to Rucha Pujari and Shalmali Gagare respectively. The Maharashtra duo ended with nine points each. Orissa results (Round 11): Boys: Utkal Ranjan Sahoo (8.5) drew with Narayanan Srinath (TN), Mohammad Ashraf (7.5) beat Karma Pandya (Guj), Baivab Mishra (6) drew with Rohit Jadhav (Mah), Saswat Khuntia (5) lost to Mahasweta Kumar (Asm), Satyajit Mohanty (5) lost to Akshay Vijayan (Ker), Ch Amit Kumar (4.5) lost to Jay Shah (Mah), Binit Binayak Pati (4) lost to M Chakravarthy Reddy (AP), Kaushik Das (2.5) drew with Anish Naik (Goa). Girls: Sunyasakta Satpathy (8) beat Teenu Thomas (Ker), Krushna Mishra (5) beat Parmi Shah (Mah).