Top seed R. Vaishali of Tamil Nadu has emerged champion of the Ramco 26th national U-13 chess championship with a round to spare.
Vaishali’s win over S.Ananya of Karnataka in the 10th and penultimate round took her tally to 10 points, an unassilable two-point lead over Tejaswini Sagar of Maharashtra.
Bakshi Rutuja of Maharashtra is in the third place with 7.5 points.
It will be Vaishali’s second national title having won the U-11 crown at Jamshedpur two months ago.
Vaishali is a student of Velmmal School and trains with Bloom Chess Academy.
In the open section, NR Visakh of Tamil Nadu, with nine points, kept his lead.
Top seed VR Aravindh Chithambaram kept pace with Visakh as he defeated Manan Rai of Delhi to move into 8.5 points.