Post News Network
Cuttack, April 19: Sambit Panda emerged champion in the open category, while Saina Salonika took top honours in the girls’ category of the Orissa State U-13 Chess Championships, which concluded at the ABIT Hall here Sunday.
In the open category, fourth seed Sambit held third seed Nilsu Patnaik to a draw to finish at the top with 6.5 points out of a possible seven.
Three players – top seed Ansuman Samal, second seed Pranab Kumar Patra and sixth seed Om Mishra finished with six points each. But after the application of the tie-breaker system, Ansuman and Pranab occupied the second and third positions respectively. In the matches they played Sunday Ansuman outwitted Arnav Aryan Samantray while Pranav prevailed over Pratisth Rout.
In the girls’ segment, top-seeded Saina played out a stalemate with third seed Anisha Mishra. She finished with 6.5 points which was enough for her to emerge champion. Anisha (six points) took the second spot while Rupal Mishra (5.5) was third.
