LALITPUR: Niraj Niraula of Jhapa won the third Madan Memorial National Youth Chess Championship here on Thursday. Niraj earned a point against Rajan Chhetri in the final round to finish the tournament undefeated with 8.5 points. Keshav Shrestha of Kathmandu ended up second with eight points and 45 progressive points. Keshav defeated Dirgha Raj Johsi of Kailali in the final round. Prem Krishna Maharjan also earned eight points but had to content himself with third place on weaker progressive points (43). Likewise, Rajendra Prasad Shrestha and Rajan finished fourth and fifth respectively. Winner Niraj received Rs 25,000 while Keshav and Prem Krishna earned Rs 12,000 each. Other finishing in the top 20 also received their shares of cash prizes. Prachanda Malakar won the title in the unrated section, while Babu Raja Maharjan and Rijendra Raj Bhandari came second and third respectively. Prakash Nepal of Jhapa claimed the Under-19 section title while defending champion Rupesh Jaiswal won the Under-15 championship. Sangita Jaiswal and Tara Ghale claimed the top two place in the women’s section. Punya Man Karmacharya was crowned the veterans’ champion while Tri Ratna Shakya ended up runner up. A total of 142 players from 45 districts took part in the championship organised by Democratic National Youth Federation. Meanwhile, Nepal Chess Association granted the rating to five players — Babu Raja Maharjan, Sanjay Maharjan, Tirtha Bahadur Bishwokarma, Binod Gyawali and Surendra Prasad Nepal — after their performance in the tournament.