Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, July 30: WCM Saina Salonika finished with the silver medal in the 30th National U-13 Boys’ and Girls’ Chess Championships, which concluded Saturday at Ahmedabad.
In the 11-round contest, Saina finished with nine points. She won eight of her games, drew two and lost only one. The gold medal went to Jishitha D of Andhra Pradesh who finished with 9.5 points.
Saina has been playing well in all her age category tournaments, since emerging as a promising talent a few years back. She had earlier won the national U-7 Girls Chess Championships in 2010 and national U-9 School Chess Championships in 2012. In the national U- 11 Chess Championships at Puri in 2014 she finished with the bronze. It effectively means that she has been winning a medal in each of the national tournaments that she has so far participated in.
Originally hailing from Sulan village of Hatadihi block in Keonjhar district, the little chess prodigy stays with her parents Ganeswar Jena and Babita Jena here in the city and is a class-VIII student of KIIT International School.
However, the other competitors from Orissa fared poorly. Biswarupa Chol finished at a disappointing 66th position with four points in her kitty. Among the boys, Mahitosh Dey (7.5) secured the 16th position, while Sambit Panda (7.5) finished 20th.