MUMBAI, Nov 23: It's almost like the National under-16 championships. Sahara Asian Sub-Junior Chess Championships at the Avion Hotel here had 14 Indians and 16 foreigners battling each other on the opening day today.

With eight boys in the 20-strong field and six girls in the field of 10, Indians had a mixed day.

Four Indian boys won while third seed Surya Shekhar Ganguly drew. The two who lost did so against compatriots.

In the girls' section, black had a great day as four of the five boards went in favour of that colour. With only 10 girls, the competition becomes an all-play-all.

Tejas Bakre, the top seed with an Elo rating of 2355, won in 41 moves against Shoven Shah. Ganguly drew with Malaysians Wong Zi Jing. Unrated Mahesh Chandran, the under-16 national champion, defeated Prathmesh Mokal (2215) in 35 moves of the Petroff Defence game. S Satyapragyan (2175) rode on his opponent, Vo Minh Hoang's (Vietnam) positional mistake to win in 27 moves.

RESULTS (1st round): Boys: Tejas Bakre (Ind) bt Shoven Shah (Ind); Yulinato Erwin (Indonesia) bt Khamrakulov Ibrokhim (Uzb); SS Ganguly (Ind) drew with Wong Zi Jing (Mal); Anton Paulo Del Mundo (Phi) drew with Ghaem Maghani Ehsam (Iran); Porathamesh Mokal (Ind) lost to Mahesh Chandran (Ind); Nesterenko Nykyta (Kzk) lost to Ahmed Aziz (Iraq); S Satyapragyan (Ind) bt Vo Minh Hoang (Viet); Md Rahul Islam Boby (Bng) lost to Lim Yee Weng (Mal); S Kidambi (Ind) bt Gareth Charles (Aus); Girls: Samantha Lee Heng Jun (Mal) lost to JE Kavitha (Ind); Shraddha Samani (Ind) lost to Yusubalieva Sevara (Uzb); Aarthie Ramaswamy (Ind) bt M Kavanna (Ind); Yogita Yevle (Ind) lost to Manasi Dadarkar (Ind); Leonova Maija (Kzk) lost to Lee Kieu Thien Kim (Viet)

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