Youngsters make their move at JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur on Wednesday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Eight players topped the tables at the end of Round Two of the JRD Tata International Ranking Chess Championship, which got underway at Jamshedpur on Wednesday.

The pack of leaders, which includes East Singhbhum’s witty player Sourabh Mandal, have all managed two points each after two rounds of board battles.

Apart from Mandal, the others who led the tables at the time of filing this report were Pradeep Tiwary, Sayan Bose, Ajay Haldar, Anand Nayak, C. Halsagar, D. Bosco and Vijay Kumar.

While Mandal checkmated Jharkhand’s Purshottam Shandil in the second round, Maharashtra’s Tiwary put it across Bengal’s Sarabjeet Choudhury during their face-off. The Bengal duo of Bose and Roy too posted easy wins against Sujit Kumar Basak (Bengal) and Bihar’s Lalan Prasad to claim a share of the top spot.

Andhra Pradesh’s Nayak also did not have any problems in putting it across Maharashtra’s Sayantan Chandra, even as Halsagar (from Maharashtra) triumphed against Trinath Ghosh of Bengal.

Later, Bihar’s Vijay Kumar defeated Andhra Pradesh’s R. Ishwar to make his way to the top, while Karnataka’s D. Bosco emerged on top in his match against Maharashtra’s Abhijeet Joshi.

“I am happy with my performance in the two opening rounds. I just hope that I am able to keep up the tempo and finish on top at the end of the tournament,” Mandal, who has an elo rating of 1964, later told The Telegraph.

The tourney, which is being held at the eastern wing of the JRD Tatat Sports Complex, comprises 10 rounds, all of which would be played in the Swiss format. A total of 256 players from as many as 16 states of the country are taking part in the event.

Of the 256 witty brains taking part in the competition, around 81 are from the state itself, followed by Bengal (32), Odisha (29), Maharastra (21), Bihar (20) and Andhra Pradesh (18).

Jharkhand’s Nishita Rani and Anisa Shiraz, both six-years-old, are the youngest players taking part in the tournament. Kanpur’s 78-year-old Indu Bhusan Vajpai is the oldest player in the event.

A number of physically handicapped and visually-challenged players are also trying their luck in the tourney, which is being organised by Tata Steel in association with the East Singhbhum District Chess Association.

Grandmaster Debyendu Barua, international arbiter from Bengal, is the chief arbiter of the tournament, which is recognised by FIDE and All India Chess Federation. The event has a prize money of Rs 1.20lakh up for grabs.