Khordha duo Koustuv Dash and Yashita Rout captured the open and girls’ titles respectively in the Odisha State Under-9 Championship, which was organised by Cuttack District Chess Association (CDCA), under the aegis of All Odisha Chess Association (AOCA) at Gourav Palace here from August 12 to 14, 2017.

In the seven-round competition, Koustuv and Yashita emerged winners with six and 6.5 points respectively. Stitaprangya Sahoo (Khordha) and Palak Mohapatra (Cuttack) finished runner-up in open and girls’ categories respectively. Top two finishers in both the categories qualified to represent Odisha in the National U-9 Chess Championship, scheduled to be held in Haryana from November 2 to 10, 2017.

A total of 146 players, including 49 girls participated in the three-day championship. AOCA president Sekhar Chandra Sahu handed over the trophies in the presence of CDCA president Asit Kumar Mukherjee, vice-president S K Prusty, secretary Ranjan Mohanty, eminent coach Satya Ranjan Patnaik, chief arbiter Tapas Kumar Mohanty and arbiters Santosh Kumar Mohapatra and Bhabesh Mohanty.

FINAL POSITIONS (Top 10):

GIRLS: 1. Rout Yashita (Khordha, 6.5), 2. Palak Mohapatra (Cuttack, 6), 3.    Arushi Srichandan (Khordha, 5.5), 4. Sushree Ananya Ray (Cuttack, 5), 5. Sradha Suman Jena (Khordha, 5), 6. Anishka Pandey (Khordha, 5), 7. Jayashree Barik (Khordha, 5), 8. Dibyashrita Swain (Cuttack, 5), 9. Shruti Snehi (Cuttack, 5), 10. Krishna Arpita (Khordha, 4.5).

OPEN: 1. Koustuv Dash (Khordha, 6), 2. Stitaprangya Sahoo (Khordha, 6), 3. Sriansh Das (Jajpur, 6), 4. Annirudha Sahoo (Cuttack, 6), 5. Aryan Mohapatra (Khordha, 6), 6. Priansh Das (Jajpur, 6), 7. Abhinav Pal (Cuttack, 5.5), 8. Ayusha Samantaray (Cuttack, 5.5), 9. Soyam Laxmidatt D Sabat (Cuttack, 5), 10. Hrishikesh Panda (Sundargarh, 5).
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PHOTO: Top two prize winners with chief guest and CDCA officials in Cuttack on August 14, 2017.