Harsha, Mahalakshmi win National Junior Chess Championship

International Master Harsha Bharathakoti and Women International Master Mahalakshmi today won the National Junior Chess Championship in the boys and girls category respectively.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar gave away the prizes to the winners after the 11-round championship that concluded at the Patliputra Sports Complex here.
Bharathakoti, former National U-13 champion, was tied with Karthik Venkatraman of Andhra Pradesh with 9.5 points. He was declared winner as he had defeated Karthik in their individual encounter.
While Karthik finished second, IM Krishna Teja N of Andhra Pradesh finished third with eight points.
In the girls section, former World U-12 champion Mahalakshmi outwitted Rutuja Bakshi of Maharashtra to bag the crown with nine points.

Sakshi Chitlange of Maharashtra came second with 8.5 points. Karnataka's Isha Sharma also scored 8.5 points, but she had to be content with the third spot as she had lost to Sakshi earlier.