Nitin, Shyam share lead in Asian junior chess

The fluctuating ebb and tide of the Asian junior chess championship saw FIDE Master S. Nitin of India joining International Master and compatriot M. Shyamsundar at the top of the leaderboard with 6.5 points at the end of the penultimate round, here Tuesday.

Among the girls, WFMs Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnam and Nakhbayeva Guliskhan of Kazakhstan were tied at the top with 6.5 points apiece.

Nitin scored a significant win over Swayams Mishra in 42 moves to join Shyamsundar who drew with IM Vidit Santosh Gujarati. In the final round Wednesday, Nitin plays Shyamsundar.

Phung scrambled to a draw after 46 moves with WIM Padmini Rout in a Queen ending while Guliskhan was somewhat lucky to split point with R. Preethi who blundered under time pressure when seemingly in a winning position.

World champion Viswanathan Anand is slated to award the medals Wednesday in the presence of Sheik Sultan Al-Nahyan, President, Asian Chess Federation and FIDE secretary Ignatius Leong.

The results (8th round):

Boys: Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 6 drew Shyamsundar M 6.5; Nitin S 6.5 bt Swayams Mishra 5.5; Debashis Das 5.5 drew Mehar Chinna Reddy CH 6; Lalith Babu M R 6 bt Darini Pouria (IRI) 5; Lokesh P 5.5 drew Narayanan Srinath 5.5; Harihara Sudan M 4.5 lost to Sethuraman SP 5.5; Ashwin Jayaram 5.5 bt Akkozov Berik (KAZ) 4.5; Pascua Haridas (PHI) 5.5 bt Swapnil S Dhopade 4.5; Anwesh Upadhyaya 5.5 bt Priyadharshan K 4.5; Narayanan K 5 drew Karthikeyan P 5; Arun Karthik R 5.5 bt Shyam Nikil P 4; Adhiban B 5 bt Rajesh VAV 4; Saravana Krishnan P 4.5 drew G Akash 4.5; Karthikeyan Murali 4 lost to Abhishek Kelkar 5; Shreyansh Daklia 4.5 bt Kaushik S 4.

Girls: Preethi R 6 drew Nakhbayeva Guliskhan (KAZ) 6.5; Vo Thi Kim Phung (VIE) 6.5 drew Padmini Rout 6; Hejazipour Mitra (IRI) 5 lost to Tay Li Jin Jeslin (SIN) 6; Cholleti SahajaSri 5.5 drew Khademalsharieh Sarasadat (IRI) 5; Bhakti Kulkarni 5.5 bt Michelle Catherina P 4.5; Mohana Priya J 4.5 lost to Bharathi R 5.5; Harini S 4 lost to Nandhidhaa PV 5.5; Pon Nkrithika 5 bt Lasya G 4; Lakshmi Praneetha K 5 bt Nur Najiha Hisham (MAS) 4; Sithalatchumi A 5 bt Bernales Christy Lamiel (PHI) 4; Pratyusha Bodda 5 bt Bala Kannamma P 4; Ivana Maria Furtado 3.5 lost to Gagare Shalmali 4.5; Saranya J 4.5 bt Salini R 3.5; Alavi Homa (IRI) 4.5 bt Savetha CH 3.5; Sunyasakta Satpathy 3.5 lost to A Akshaya 4.5.

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