TOP seeds in both open section and girls section were shocked on Day Three of the 39th National Under-7 Open and Girls Chess Championships 2026 currently in progress at GH Raisoni Institute of Engineering & Technology (GHRIET), Shraddha Park, Wadi-Hingna Link Road, MIDC on Thursday. In major upsets, unrated Myra Rathod from Punjab shocked top seed Udhriti Bhattacharya of West Bengal having a rating of 1529 in fifth round of the girls group while Joshua Magnus Katarapu of Andhra Pradesh defeated top seed Telangana’s Vislavath Lavik Ram in the sixth round of open section. Hosts Maharashtra continued to enjoy a productive outing as Liyaa Krishnan maintained her perfect record to emerge as the joint leader in the girls section after six rounds, while Aksh Shrivastava and Ivaan Dubey scored important victories in the boys category to remain firmly in the title race. On the top board Joshua pipped top seed Vislavath to emerge as the sole leader with six points. Vivaan Kadam (Goa) and Sathwik Bhat (Karnataka) shared the point to move to 5.5 points each, while Rudra Pratap (Bihar) defeated Shivansh Gowda (Karnataka) to keep pace with the leaders. Among Maharashtra players, Aksh continued his impressive campaign with a victory over Aarjob Nath (West Bengal) to move to five points, while Ivaan defeated Abdur Rahim (Tamil Nadu) to also reach five points. Aarush Malkar, however, went down to Akshath Chowhan Lavudiya (Telangana).

 

In girls section Liyaa (Maharashtra) produced another impressive performance defeating Rayanika Shivaram (Tamil Nadu) to maintain her unbeaten record and move to six points, sharing the lead with Aaditri Majumdar (West Bengal), who defeated Myra Rathore (Punjab). In other games, Udhriti (West Bengal), Shazwa Shaik (Telangana), Navya R (Tamil Nadu), Aaradhya Kommery (Kerala), Dia Harshali Baisnab (Assam), Aashvi VA (Tamil Nadu) and Sreeja Ghanekar (Goa) registered victories, while Rinayra Verma (Telangana) and Hashinee MC (Tamil Nadu) shared the point. Among other Maharashtra players, Tanishka Bhandari lost to Aaradhya Kommery (Kerala) while Pakhi Patel went down to Aashvi VA (Tamil Nadu). With only three rounds remaining, the battle for the National Under-7 Open and Girls titles has intensified, with Maharashtra’s youngsters continuing to figure prominently among the leading contenders. Earlier, the fifth round of the Championship was inaugurated by IAS Aditi Singh, Director, National Centre of Excellence, Ahmedabad while the sixth round was inaugurated by Naresh Chandak, President, Gandhi City Chess Association Wardha and Prof Anupam Choube, Dean, GH Raisoni University. The event is being organised by the Maharashtra Chess Association (MCA) and Chess Association Nagpur (CAN) in association with GH Raisoni Sports and Cultural Foundation under the aegis of the All India Chess Federation (AICF).