LUCKNOW, July 2 -- Spirited North Eastern Railway (NER) stormed into the semi-finals of the 18th Timber Trophy, scripting a thrilling three-wicket over Yorker Cricket Club (YCC) here on Tuesday. Needing 112 to win at a strike rate of 5.52 runs per over in stipulated 20 overs, NER despite losing five wickets for 57, romped home with five balls to spare, losing seven wickets. Ankit Yadav, who smashed an unbeaten 35 in 38 balls with the help of four hits to the fence, was later named man-of-the-match. NER lost opener Dinesh Kumar on the very last ball of the first over. Thereafter, they kept losing wickets on regular intervals as Saurabh dubey (14), Sahab Yuvraj Singh (5) and Awanish Singh (3) departed in quick succession. Shiv Kumar remained the other key run getter as he struck 17-ball 23 with the help of two boundaries and a six. For YCC, Faizanul remained the most successful bowler, bagging 3/17, whereas Sarthak Dixit, Tanay Tripathi and Ayush pandey shared three wickets between them. Earlier, YCC scored 111/8 while batting first after winning the toss. They too were struggling at 3/25, but a 44-run fourth-wicket stand between Devansh Kumar 920, 32b, 1x4) and Ayush Pandey (30, 46b, 1x4, 1x6) put the side back on track. Parnjal Singh (18) and Sarthak Dixit (15*) made useful contributions. Saved remained the wrecker-in-chief for NER, claiming 3/28, whereas Yuvraj Singh bagged 2/16. Now, the winners take on Akhil Infra Cricket Club in the semi-final on Wednesday. Teenager Lakshya Nigam of Oxford Model Convent scored a perfect 7/7 ahead of Lucknow's senior chess players to win the Rapid Open hosted by Chess Club Black and White here. Kapil Kumar Khare took the senior citizens' trophy with 5.5 points. The star of the tournament was ten-year-old Abhigyan Katiyar of Modern School, who beat Khare and second seed Arif Ali to stand third with 5/7 points. Ravishanker was runner-up with 6/7 points. Another teenager Samarth Gupta (CMS Aliganj Cambridge) won the under 16 unrated section with 6.5/7 points....