M’lore boy tops in state chess tourney

MANGALORE: Nihal Manjunath clinched the title in the State Under-13 Boys Chess Championship while Shristi J Shetty from Shimoga won in the Under-13 Girls category of the tourney organised by the South Kanara District Chess Association (SKDCA) at the Karnataka Bank Employees Association Hall in the city on Sunday.

Nihal Manjunath of Derick Chess School (DCS) secured an unbeaten 6.5 points in seven rounds to remain on top.

Gahan M G was placed second and in girls category, eighth seeded Vanessa D’Souza bagged the runner-up place with 4.5 points in six rounds.

Two top players in each category will represent state in a national under-13 chess championship (Boys at Delhi and Girls at Mumbai). SKDCA denied any biased seedings in the tournament.

SKDCA president M S Gururaj stated that the seeding was given based on the details of previous achievements of Vanessa D’Souza furnished in an entry form by her parents.

The tournament, the press release informs, is being conducted according to the accepted FIDE rules. Parents can lodge a complaint against the association to either state body (United Karnataka Chess Association) or All India Chess Federation in Chennai or FIDE.