Kumar Gaurav of Bihar started as seed No.42 and won the 46th Indian Junior Chess Championship that concluded at Hotel Shelton, Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh on October 16, 2016. Top seed, Woman International Master R Vaishali of Tamil Nadu won the Girls’ section by a wide margin of 1.5 points. She scored 9.5/11 and gained just 2.8 Elo points. She too suffered a third round jolt, losing to team mate C.M.N. Sunyuktha.
International Arbiter R Srivatsan from Tamil Nadu was the chief arbiter. The event was organised by Ascent Sports Foundation, APCA, and the East Godavari District Chess Association.
Final placings (tie-break order):
Open: 1-2. Kumar Gaurav (Bih), M.N. Shaikh (Mah) 8.5/11; 3-8. Raunak Sadhwani (Mah), Muthaiah Al (TN), IM Krishna N Teja (AP), S Prasannaa (TN), FM Rajdeep Sarkar (WB), WFM Tarini Goyal (Chd) 8 each; 9-10. IM Sayanthan Das (WB), Sai Agni Jeevitesh (Tel) and others 7.5 each.
Girls: 1 WIM R Vaishali (TN) 9.5/11; 2-4. WFM Bidhar Rutumbara (Odi), WFM Arpita Mukherjee (WB), WFM G Lasya (AP) 8 each; 5-7. C.H. Meghna (Ker), D Jishitha (AP), C.M.N. Sunyuktha (TN) 7.5 each; 8-10. Deodhar Vrushali (Mah), Seeya Thakare (Mah), WIM Sakshi Chitlange (Mah) and others 7 each.