Steel city youngsters Adhiraj Mitra and Navieka Jaiswal won the online state under-12 championship, part of the Jharkhand Chess Association’s chess festival.

While Adhiraj, who earlier topped the under-18 event and secured the runner-up slot in the under-14 age group, bagged the title in the open category, Navieka stamped her authority in the girl's section.

Adhiraj, the youngest Fide-rated player in Jharkhand, proved his supremacy by scoring 6 points (out of maximum 7) and finished with a full point ahead of a group of half a dozen players.

Navieka and Saara Jain (also from Jamshedpur), on the other hand, tied for the title in the girl's category. The former was declared winner on better tiebreak.

The chess festival concluded with the under-12 event. It gave ample opportunity to players who remained in touch with the game in Covid times.

"The chess festival is being conducted successfully. We congratulate the players who participated in the state championship," said AJCA secretary Neeraj Kumar Mishra.

According to him, Jharkhand players participated in the virtual National Under-18 Open and Girl's Championship which concluded on Saturday.

In the open category, Ishant Kumar (Dhanbad) secured the 89th spot with 6 points while Souryadipta Sarkar (East Singhbhum) managed 144th place with 5 points. A total of 232 players took part in the open section.

In the nationals for girls, Dyuti Chakraborty and Kriti Kumar (both from East Singhbhum) finished 104th and 107th, respectively with points each. In all, 128 players were part of the national meet.