CHENNAI: Bhakti Kulkarni defended the national women’s chess championship title with 10 points out of a possible 11, after drawing her final round game against Pratyusha Bodda of Andhra Pradesh in the 46th edition, in Karaikudi on Saturday. Assured of the title and Rs 4 lakh overnight, Bhakti failed to convert the advantage she had and signed the peace treaty after 62 moves.
With eight and a half points, Vantika Agrawal of Delhi finished as runner-up. She split a point with Mrudul Dehankar of Maharashtra. Third seed Divya Deshmukh of Maharashtra matched Vantika on points, beating Nandhidhaa PV of Tamil Nadu. Both Vantika and Divya had 8.5 each, but the former came second with a better tie-break score. Vantika received `3 lakh while Divya took home `2 lakh. Final standings: 1. Bhakti Kulkarni (Air India, 10), 2. Vantika Agrawal (Delhi, 8.5), 3. Divya Deshmukh (Mah, 8.5), 4. Pratyusha Bodda (AP, 8), 5. Mrudul Dehankar (Mah, 8).
Anupama blanks Shoail World
U-16 bronze-medallist Anupama was in her element, thrashing Sheik Shoail of Nellore 56-35, 47-31, 84-27 in the fourth round of Q Lounge all-India open snooker championship. Results (Rd 4): Shoaib (Q Ball City) bt Ajeesh (Cue Zone) 62-22, 59-38, 55-17; Anupama (Mylapore) bt Sheik Shoail (Nellore) 56-35, 47-31, 84-27; Dilip (Cue Zone) bt Rajan (SVS) 53-9, 62-2, 77-37; Riyaz (Q Lounge) bt Imran (Smart Shooters) 50-24, 18-71, 64-90, 58-20, 54-18; Nazir (Q Ball City) bt Manoj Dasarathan (Towers Club) 43-57, 68-59, 47-59, 54-17, 60-42; Santhosh (Coimbatore) bt Abdul Rahman (Q Lounge) 53-76, 54-40, 79-31, 12-59, 60-40.