Bhakti held to a draw by Padmini

Goa's Bhakti Kulkarni (ELO 2112), who is the reigning
Commonwealth Under 18 Girls Champion, was
held to a draw by National Under 13 Girls
Champion Padmini Rout (ELO 2246) in the 6th round of the
National Junior Girls Chess Championship
being played at Nagpur.

Bhakti had beaten Padmini twice this year in
Calicut in the Under 17 Nationals and in Tashkent,
Uzbekistan in the Asian Under 16 Girls tournament.
However, she was lucky to get off with a draw
as the third seeded Padmini missed several winning
chances in a Pirc Defence opening. However, her coach
Dronacharya awardee Raghunandan Gokhale was satisfied
with the result and said that Bhakti will have to 'maintain' the momentum
to make it to the medals tally.

8th seeded Bhakti had beaten National Sub Junior Champion
and the 7th seed WIM P. Lakshmi Sahiti (ELO 2142) in the morning
in the 5th round. She now has 5.5 points and stands a bright chance
to make it to the top 6 for a spot in the National
Junior team. She next plays P. Sivasankari (ELO 2101) of Tamil Nadu in
the seventh round.

Goa's only other entry Nandini Saripalli (ELO 1876) accounted for
Sonakshi Rathore (ELO 1963) of Rajasthan to notch her 4th point
and keep up her impressive showing in this event. Next up for her
is N. Raghavi (ELO 2069). There are 5 more rounds to go
and everything is still up for grabs in this prestigious event!