Cuttack girl P Sairupa and Bhubaneswar boy Manish Kumar won the titles in the Odisha State U-13 Chess Championship, which concluded at Sailabala Women’s College, Cuttack today. The three-day event was organised by Triple C Chess Club, in association with Cuttack District Chess Association, under the aegis of All Odisha Chess Association.

As many as four players tied for the top spot in the girls category, scoring six points each out of a possible seven. However, Sairupa, daughter of chess coach Satya Ranjan Patnaik, bagged the title by virtue of higher tie-break points, while Suhana Jena (Khurda) finished runner-up.

Manish Kumar, son of Biswajit Pradhan, turned out to be outright winner in the open category, logging 6.5 points from seven rounds, while Rudranarayan of Puri settled as runner-up with six points. As many as 76 girls and 143 boys participated in the three-day championship.

Cuttack Deputy Collector Prabodh Rout handed over the trophies in the closing ceremony. AOCA joint-secretary Satya Ranjan Patnaik, Triple C Chess Club secretary Biranchi Narayan Sahoo and chief arbiter Surech Chandra Sahoo were present on the occasion. Top two finishers in both the categories qualified to represent Odisha in the National U-13 Championship, scheduled to be held at Ahmedabad, Gujarat from June 14 to 22, 2018.

FINAL PLACINGS (Top 10):

GIRLS: 1. P Sairupa (CTC, 6 pts), 2. Suhana Jena (KHOR, 6), 3. Mohapatra Palak (CTC, 6), 4. Ananya Anamika (KHOR, 6), 5. Miracle Panda (KHOR, 5.5), 6. Yashita Rout (KHOR, 5.5), 7. Arushi Srichandan (KHOR, 5), 8. Bijayalaxmi Barik (KHOR, 5), 9. Snehayukta Behera (GJPT, 5), 10. Adhisha Dash (CTC, 5).

OPEN: 1. Manish Kumar (KHOR, 6.5), 2. Rudranarayan (PURI, 6), 3. Saswat Mallick (KHOR, 6), 4. Mahitosh Dey (KHOR, 6), 5. Harshit Ranjan Sahu (CTC, 5.5), 6. Priansh Das (JAJP, 5.5), 7. Koustuv Dash (KHOR, 5.5), 8. Tanmaya Tripathy (KHOR, 5.5), 9. Aryan Arnav Samantaray (BLSR, 5.5), 10. Abhishek Nayak (JAJP, 5.5).
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PHOTO: State U-13 chess champions P Sairupa and Manish Kumar lift trophies in Cuttack on May 13, 2018.