Shalini at home. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Oct. 5: This girl is certainly learning to get her moves right.

Shalini Srivastava, the reigning senior state chess champion, has finished a commendable fifth at the XVIth national under-17 chess championship in Ahmedabad.

?Although I could not finish first, the championship has certainly raised my confidence level,? said Shalini, who returned to the city on Monday.

A Class VIII student of Carmel Junior College, Shalini was the only girl from four zones ? west, east, central and north ? combined to find a place in the top five in the under-13 category at the national meet held from September 23 to October 1.

Shalini defeated Devangi Patankar of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu?s V. Satyapriya, both Asian sub-junior medallists, while her matches against P. Sivasankiri (Tamil Nadu) and Kiran M. Mohanty of Orissa ended in draws. Both these players have bagged gold in the Asian junior chess championship. The former is the current junior champion and a national ?A? qualifier. Shalini, however, tasted defeat at the hands of Soumya Swaminathan of Maharashtra.

?I was confident of a good show in Ahmedabad,? said Shalini, who has honed her skills at the Tata Chess Centre.

She had a special thanks for principal Sister Flavian for allowing her to participate in the under-17 nationals at the cost of skipping the second term examinations and the Jogga inter-school chess meet. The youngster was on the list of unrated players in the national meet.

Recalling her Ahmedabad experience, Shalini said it was nice to compete with high-ranking players. “I think such experiences not only raise one’s confidence level but also provide lessons on making intelligent moves. It was an enriching experience for me,” Shalini, who has also claimed the state junior and sub-junior titles, said.

The chess queen of Jharkhand said she would like to work on her weaknesses and overcome them. “Chess is a brain game, which needs a lot of patience and intelligence. I would like to put in extra hours in my training. It will help me overcome my weaknesses,” said Shalini.