Madhesh Kumar defeats Shaunak Badole to take sole lead in national chess meet

Hyderabad: S Madhesh Kumar of Puducherry emerged as the sole leader with 8.5 points after outwitting co-leader Shaunak Badole of Maharashtra in the ninth round of the 51st National Sub-Junior Chess Championships 2026, organised by the Telangana State Chess Association, here on Sunday.

Madhesh was followed by Niladri Banerjee of West Bengal with eight points. Seven players were tied for third place with seven points each.

Despite drawing with Maitreyi Mondal of West Bengal, top seed FM Prishita Gupta of Delhi maintained her slender lead with eight points, ahead of her four nearest rivals, who had 7.5 points each. Four more players had scored seven points each.

Important results (ninth round):

Madhesh Kumar bt B Shaunak

Niladri Banerjee bt Aarit Kapil

Madhvendra Pratap Sharma bt M Mridav

Amit Agrawal bt A Hemal

Vivaan Vijay Saraogi bt Ch Saharsha

Sherla Prathamesh lost to Parambrata Sarkar

A Divith Reddy bt Krishay Jain

R S Pranav Sai Ram lost to Christy George

Jval Saurin Patel bt Armaan Singh Bakshi

Sagnik Halder lost to Aadik Theophane Lenin

Arixander Johny lost to Amartya Saumitra Gupta

Indrajit Majumdar lost to Samarth Sreeni Warrier

Sai Abhinav Kuchibhotla bt Arjun Singh

Viraat Jalan lost to Rahul Ramakrishnan

Jai Prakash Vanum lost to Aahil Patra

Maitreyi Mondal drew with Prishita Gupta.