Top-seeded MR Venkatesh of Tamil Nadu outplayed 47th ranked Backay Yamdem of Manipur in the boys under-14 first round. Second-seeded Valay Parikh of Gujarat also had it easy while beating K Arun of Tamil Nadu.

Fifth-seeded Argya Das of Godricke National Chess Academy, Calcutta followed the pattern, sweeping past J Karthik of Tamil Nadu and third seeded C Pravin Kumar of Tamil Nadu scalped Sachin Prasad of Gujarat.

In the girls section top-seeded JE Kavitha of Tamil Nadu defeated 26th ranked PV Rashmi of Karnataka. Second-seeded Chitra Sridhar of Karnataka easily overcame Anoori Shah who provided a semblance of a fight. However, superior tactics of the Karnataka girl saw her through. Madhuri Patil of Maharashtra, seeded fourth, beat another Gujarat girl Vaidehi Dave.

Sleeping with theenemy!

An hilarious incident took place in the afternoon. C Praveen Kumar of Tamil Nadu, playing with white pieces, fell asleep while playing K Girijakumar of Andhra Pradesh on table number three in the boys singles under-14 second round. Girija refused permission when asked whether or not he could be woken up.

This went on for nearly 25 minutes. Finally an international arbiter called Praveen Kumar's parents and persuaded Girija to agree to wake up Praveen who was penalised 10 minutes more. Play continued. The result of their duel, however, was a draw.