BHUBANESWAR 24-Jul-2012 189
Odisha youngsters did well in the 26th National Under-7 Chess Championship with Bhubaneswar boy Mahitosh Dey and Cuttack girl Aditi Mohanty finishing runner-up in open category and third among girls respectively at Puducherry today. With this achievement, the duo, who take coaching at S R Chess Centre, qualified to represent the country in the World and Asian Under-8 Chess Championships to be held next year at Dubai and Vietnam respectively.
Mahitosh scored nine points from 11 rounds with nine wins and two defeats. R Praggnanandhaa of Tamil Nadu won the title with full 11 points, which Manthan Kashyap Datta of Assam ended third with 8.5 points behind Mahitosh.
A Standard-II student of DAV School, Chandrasekharpur, Mahitosh received a cash prize of Rs 13,000. Among other Odisha boys, Rishabh Anand (8), Nikhil Mohanty (8), Dikshant Dash (7.5), Aryan Arnab Samantaray (7.5), Amit Kumar Sahoo (7), Priyansu Kumar Patra (6.5) and Sumit Biswal (5.5) finished fifth, 11th, 13th, 18th, 29th, 38th and 75th respectively in a field of 139 players.
Aditi occupied third position with 8.5 points, winning eight games, drawing one and losing two. The first and second positions in the girls category were claimed by Divya Deshmukh (9.5) of Maharashtra and Rakshitta Ravi (8.5) of Tamil Nadu respectively.
Aditi, a Standard-II student of Stewart School, pocketed a cash prize of Rs 9,000. Among other Odisha girls, Swagatika Samal (6), Miracle Panda (6) and P Sairupa (5.5) finished 24th, 33rd and 37th respectively in the nine-day championship, which featured a total of 70 competitors. Altogether five boys and one girl from the state received cash prizes by securing places among top 20 finishers.
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PHOTO: Mahitosh Dey (Left) and Aditi Mohanty with their prizes at the National Under-7 Chess Championship in Puducherry on July 24, 2012.
