Lalit Babu wins title in National Chess

Kozhikode, Jan 10 (UNI) M R Lalit Babu of Andhra Pradesh won the title with seven points in the boys Under-17 National Chess tournament here today.

Lalit, who drew with R Prem Nath of Tamil Nadu (7), was declared champion while considering his better progressive score.

Adhiban B of Tamil Nadu and Sai Sreeniwas of Andhra Pradesh grabbed second and third positions respectively with seven points apiece.

In the girls section, Kiran Monisha Mohanty of Orissa, who clinched title in the penultimate day itself, took her final tally to 8.5 points beating Bhakti Kulkarni of Goa while Tamil Nadu's Uttara P and Preeti R walked away with second and third prizes with seven and 6.5 points respectively.

The winners of the event, organised by the Kerala Chess Association, were given away with cash prizes totalling Rs 76,000.

Points: Boys: Lalit Babu M R (AP) 7 drew with Prem Nath R (TN) 7, Naveen Kanna T U (TN) 6.5 drew with Sai Sreeniwas (AP) 7, Adhiban B (TN) 7 bt Sethuraman S P TN) 5.5, Kulkarni Chinmaya (Mah) 6 drew with Nitin S (TN) 6, Karthikeyan P (TN) 6.5 bt Dustagir Ibrahim (TN) 5.5, Debashish Das (Ori) 6.5 bt Sachin C (Ker) 5.5, Praveen Kumar (Bih) 5.5 drew with Shyam Sunder M (TN) 5.5, Arun Kathik P N (TN) 5.5 drew with Mahendra Venkat (AP) 5.5, Sooraj M (Kar) 6 bt Swayams Mishra (Ori) 5 Vishnu Prasanna (TN) 6 bt Ved Prakash Sinha (Bih) 5.

Standings: 1) Lalit Babu MR (AP) 7, 2) Adhiban B (TN) 7, Sai Sreeniwas (AP) 7, 4) Prem Nath R (TN) 7.

Girls: Bhakti Kulkarni (GO) 6 lost to Kiran Monisha Mohanty (Ori) 8.5 Uttara P (TN) 7 bt Sruti K (Kar) 5.5, Saheli Nath (WB) 6.5 bt Harini S (TN) 5.5 Sita Litchumi (TN) 5.5 lost to Preeti R (TN) 6.5, Divyasree C H (AP) 5 lost to Sivasankari P (TN) 6, Kanuri Tejaswi (AP) 6 bt Satyapriya (TN) 5, Padmini Rout (Ori) 5.5 bt Abhinaya K (Pondy) 4.5, Athira C P (Ker) 4.5 lost to Apoorva G (TN) 5.5, Aparna R (Ker) 5.5 bt Tinu Thomas (Ker) 4, Niji A (Ker) 5 bt Priyanka G (Pondy) 4.

Standings: 1) Kiran Monisha Mohanty (Ori) 8.5, 2) Uthara P (TN) 7, 3) Preeti R (TN) 6.5, Saheli Nath (WB) 6.5 UNI