Abhinav Karra stuns Ruhaan Mahendru

Abhinav Karra's ploy of playing aggressive chess helped him upset State U-9 champion Ruhaan Mahendru (FIDE rating 1465) in the boy's U-10 Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) inter-school chess tournament at Dadar's IES Raja Shivaji Vidya Sankul yesterday.

Abhinav Karra contemplates his next move yesterday. Pic/Shadad Khan

The defeat came a day after Dhirubhai Ambani International's (BKC) Ruhaan was crowned the Maharashtra U-9 state champion. Of the four rounds that Abhinav played yesterday, he won three and had a tie in Round Four. Meanwhile, Ruhaan won three and lost one.

Abhinav was elated over his win against a rated chess player. "I was very nervous playing against Ruhaan as he is more experienced. At the start, we both attacked each other. Midway, I lost track and committed mistakes. In the last five minutes, Ruhaan was losing out on time and I won," said Abhinav.

The Class III student of Arya Vidya Mandir (Bandra) added: "I did not think I would win against Ruhaan as he is a FIDE rated player. Also, his performance at the U-9 boys' state chess championship (a day ago) cannot be ignored. This is the first year that I am participating in the tournament, and I am glad that I upset the best player in my category."u00a0