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NT Bureau
Chennai, Oct 2:

        The stage is set for the Canara Bank National Sub-junior boys and girls chess championship which begins here today.

        This championship is an 11-round Swiss tournament which has attracted 150 boys and 96 girls from all over the country. The prize money on offer is Rs 1.35 lakh. The tourney will conclude 10 October. The top three boys and girls will represent India at the Asian and World chess championships in 2008.

        Among the Andhra Pradesh entries are National 'A' players M R Lalith Babu and Mehar Chinna Reddy. Karnataka's Girish Koushik, the World Under-10 Champion, Vizag's Ch Mohineesh, the World U-8 champion, N Srinath, former World U-12 champion, and Tamilnadu's International Master M Shyam Sundar are also in the fray, Three of the five member Indian Under-16 team which won the World Youth Chess Olympiad at Singapore in August — B Adhiban (TN), S Nitin (TN) and Swayams Mishra (Orissa) would be favourites along with International Master-elect S P Sethuraman of Chennai.

        Among the girls are popular stars Devangi Patankar (Mah), Pon N Krithiga (TN, former Asian U-12 champion), World Under-8 Girls bronze medal winner M Mahalakshmi (TN) and World U-10 Girls champion CH Sahajasri (AP).