CHENNAI: Woman GM Swati Ghate (LIC) stunned top seed IM Eesha Karavade (PSPB) to take a share of the lead after Round 5 of the 43rd National Women Challengers chess championship at Nehru Stadium.
On 4.5 points, Swati shares top spot with second seed IM Vijayalakshmi S (Air India), WGM Soumya Swaminathan (PSPB) and WIM Vaishali R (TN). Half-a-point behind are nine, including WGMs Mary Ann Gomes and Kiran Manisha Mohanty.
Important results (Rd 5): Soumya Swaminathan (4.5) drew with R Vaishali (4.5); Swati Ghate (4.5) bt Eesha Karavade (3.5); P Michelle Catherina (3.5) lost to S Vijayalakshmi (4.5); Mary Ann Gomes (4) drew with Kiran Manisha Mohanty (4); Bala Kannamma (4) bt Pratyusha Bodda (3); R Divya Lakshmi (3.5) drew with Mohota Nisha (3.5); M Mahalakshmi (4) bt Priyanka Kumari (3); CMN Sunyuktha (3) lost to Srija Seshadri (4); PV Nandhidhaa (3.5) drew with Chitlange Sakshi (3.5); Nisha N Patkar (3) lost to G Lasya (4).
Ramji for Dindigul
Ramji Srinivasan has been appointed as trainer for Dindigul franchise in the Tamil Nadu Premier League. “Thulasi will be the physio. We’ll have a fielding coach, and have shortlisted a few candidates. There will be no batting coach as of now,” said Dindigul’s chief coach M Venkataramana.
Sources also confirmed that former India U-19 player Manan Vohra will turn out for AG’s Office in the TNCA Senior Division league.
Krishna shines
Krishna Kumar’s 7 for 41 helped Indot Photo Book (Kerala) defeat Kaizeen YCC in the 47th All-India YSCA Trophy.
Brief scores: Vijaya Bank (Bengaluru) 252/4 in 30 ovs (Sadiq Kirmani 64, Rohan Kadam 97, Dikshansu Negi 73) bt Loyola college 193/5 in 30 ovs (Akshay 104 n.o, C Raghavendra 4/50); IOB 147/7 in 22 ovs (Moses 3/28) bt TI Cycles 86/9 in 22 ovs (M Siddarth 4/19); Indian Navy (Mumbai) 215/9 in 30 ovs (Lakhan Singh 100, B Sathish 3/50) bt Kattankulathur CC 177/9 in 30 ovs (Vipin Singh 4/27); Kaizeen YCC 137 in 29.4 ovs (Krishna Kumar 7/41) lost to Indot Photo Book (Kerala) 138/7 in 28.5 ovs (Sreenath 50, Ribin 3/22, Shiraj Khan 3/50).
Hat-trick by Siva
Sivakumar’s hat-trick (4/18) went in vain as Salem lost to Coimbatore in the TNCA inter-district T20 trophy.
Brief scores: Coimbatore 132/6 in 20 ovs (Sujay 55, Sivakumar 4/18) bt Salem 98/9 in 20 ovs; Tiruvannamalai 133/7 in 20 ovs (Waseem Ahmed 53) lost to Tirupur 134/3 in 18.5 ovs (S Sabarinathan 70 n.o); Virudhunagar 125 in 18 ovs (Surya Prakash 40, G Karthik 4/37, Y Prathap 3/16) bt Krishnagiri 82 in 15.4 ovs (S Sornaguru 4/11); Cuddalore 179/6 in 20 ovs (R Kugan 65, B Bansingh 58) bt Tirunelveli 154/9 in 20 ovs (N Baskaran 3/27, R Silambarasan 3/10); Madurai 136/9 in 20 ovs (P Francis 59 n.o, Subramania Siva 42, V Sakthivel 3/20) bt Villupuram 132/7 in 20 ovs (Subramania Siva 4/24); Dindigul 110/6 in 20 ovs lost to Tiruchirapalli 111/5 in 18 ovs (NS Harish 40); Nagapattinam 140/6 in 20 ovs (Siddharth 55) bt Theni 125/9 in 20 ovs (Siddharth 3/17).