Aabha Deshmukh of Maharashtra stuns AFM Shaik Shazwa of Telangana n Sports Reporter EKANSHI Chandel of Rajasthan caused one of the biggest uspets on second day of the 39th National Under-7 Open & Girls Chess Championships in progress at GH Raisoni Institute of Engineering & Technology (GHRIET), Shraddha Park, MIDC, Nagpur, on Wednesday. In the Girls Group third round, Ekanshi defeated second seed Aaarini Lahoty of Delhi while on the fourth board AFM Shaik Shazwa of Telangana went down against Aabha Deshmukh of Maharashtra. In Open Group, the seeded players advanced with wins against the lesser rated opponents. Top seeds of Open and Girls Group namely Vislavath Lavik Ram of Telangana and Udhriti Bhattacharya of West Bengal sailed smoothly with four points to their credit at end of four rounds.

 

The event is being organised by Maharashtra Chess Association (MCA) & Chess Association Nagpur (CAN) in association with GH Raisoni Sports and Cultural Foundation under the aegis of the All India Chess Federation (AICF) supported by Cosmos Co-operative Bank Ltd. The event has the recognition of Official Indian Championship in Under-7 Category for selection of Indian players who will participate in World Under-8 Chess Championship. The event is poised for exciting games in the coming rounds as fight for sole lead is gearing up. In Girls Group, 8 players are leading the table with 4 points each while 12 players are leading in Open Group with 4 points. Earlier, the third round of Open Group was inaugurated at the hands of Amit Yenurkar, Director, MKH Sancheti Group while the Girls Group was inaugurated by IAS Amrutesh Aurangabadkar, Joint Commissioner, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation by playing a move on respective top boards.