NAGPUR: Vedika Pal kept the Nagpur flag flying high at the national level chess championship which concluded in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Of the 36 medals on offer in the 10th National School Chess Championship, the nine-year-old Vedika became the only city master to register a podium finish.
In the U-9 girls' group, the fifth seed clinched a bronze medal to confirm her place in the Indian team for the forthcoming Asian school chess championship.
Vedika posted victories in seven rounds and lost two games to finish the nine-round Swiss league tournament collecting seven points.
Giving a positive start to her campaign, Vedika posted five victories on a trot and was sharing the lead at the halfway mark of the championship. Her winning run was halted by the eventual champion and unrated Diya Sawal from Goa who defended with the black pieces in the sixth round. Diya remained unbeaten to finish on top of the table collecting nine points.
The five consecutive games that Vedika won came against Muskan Pattan of Andhra Pradesh, Harshitha T of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat's Arpita Patankar, Karnataka's Shashini Puvi and third seeded Pratitee Bordoloi respectively.
Despite the sixth-round defeat, Vedika fought her way back in the following game when she utilized her opening advantage with the white pieces to score a fluent win over seventh seeded Asmita Biswas from West Bengal.
In the penultimate round, Vedika failed to defend with black pieces to go down against fourth seed Shreya Rajesh from Karnataka, who went on to finish second in the nationals.
With both the gold and silver medals out of Vedika's reach, the city girl and four others fought for the bronze in the final round. Vedika took no chance and posted a fluent win over Tamil Nadu's Pavithra RV in the ninth round and earned the right to stand on the podium while confirming her berth in the Indian team for the Asian meet.
