Ivana in joint second place

World Under 8 Girls Champion Ivana
Furtado of Goa found herself in joint
second place after the sixth round of the
National Under 9 Chess Championships
being played at Bangalore.

Ivana defeated Megha Gupta of Gujarat in the
sixth round. This was the same girl who had
defeated topseed Sweety Patel (ELO 1983)
in the first round so Ivana could not take any
chances. She eventually prevailed in a tough
battle to bag her 5th point in 6 rounds.

G.K. Monnisha (ELO 1705) of Tamil Nadu is in
the lead with 5.5 points. Ivana and 4 others
are in the second spot with 5 points each.
Goa's Gauri Hadkonkar (4 points) and Riya Sawant
(3.5 points) are also doing well. Ivana faces the leader
in a crucial encounter in the 7th round.

In the boys section, two Goans are in joint 5th
place surprisingly with 5 points each. They are
M. Harikrishnan (ELO 1730) and Rakshit Rai
(ELO 1656). Hopefully, one or both of these can
qualify for the internationals by placing in the top 3.