A 2nd year PUC science student of Sharada P U College of Mangalore, Manasa is the first ever girl from Karnataka to have reached the second runner up position in this category in the National Level Chess.It may be recalled here that in the last year edition of this event at Puri in Orissa Manasa could finish 4th.

With this 3rd rank Manasa is selected to represent India in the next edition of Asian Youth Chess Championships along with Pon N Krithika ( Champion) of Tamil Nadu and Bhakthi Kulkarni (Runner Up) of Goa. Starting her campaign as 11th seed in the tournament played in 9 rounds swiss format,Manasa (FIDE Rating 1990) registered in all 5 wins against Dilpreet Kaur of Punjab,Karnika Vema of Haryana,Sahari J (1872) of A P,Supriya Joshi (1771) of (Maharashtra),and Devangi Patankar (2105) of Maharashtra.She lost to 2nd seeded Bhakthi Kulkarni (2163) of Goa in the 3rd round and top seeded Pon N Krithika (2191) of Tamil Nadu in the 6th round.However Manasa could draw 2 games in the penultimate and final 9th rounds played against K Shruthi (1995) of karnataka and the giant killer of the tournament Shika Shah (1885) of Gujarath, thus making a final tally of 6 points out of 9 rounds.

The only other Karnataka girl player in this tournament, K Shruthi, a 1st year PUC science student of Thunga PU College Theerthahalli,Shimoga District,finished a crditable 9th place with a score of 5.5 out of 9.Shruthi is the reigning Karnataka U-17 Girls Chess Champion.

It may be recalled that Manasa has many laurels to her credits including one silver and two gold medals in the National School Chess Tournaments conducted by the School Games Federation of India.She represented India in the 2008 Asian U-18 girls Chess Championship held at Tehran,Iran and finished 8th.

Manasa is daughter of K.Sudhakaran and N.Geetha-both employees of Canara Bank in Mangalore.A rising star of Karnataka Women Chess,Manasa is set to emerge as the top FIDE Rated female chess player of the state in the next FIDE rank list to be published on January 1st 2009.