Indians impress at World Youth Chess

A host Indians did well in the World youth chess championship in Greece, including M. Mahalakshmi, who maintained her sole lead at the end of the seventh round of the Under-18 girls’ category.

Published : Nov 02, 2015 22:03 IST

India's R. Pragnananda is in the lead in the Under-10 boys' section of the World youth chess championship in Halkidiki, Greece.

M. Mahalakshmi maintained her sole lead at the end of the seventh round of the World Youth Under-18 girls’ chess championship in Halkidiki, Greece. With four rounds remaining, she had 6.5 points, half-a-point ahead of fellow-Indian V. Varshini. Harshita Guddanti was the best-placed Indian in the Under-16 section in the 14th slot with five points, one point behind the leaders Bakhora Abdusattorova of Uzbekistan, Oliwia Kiolbasa of Poland and Fiona Sieber of Germany.

In the Under-14 championship, R. Vaishali (six points) shared the lead with Ekaterina Golsteva of Russia. In the Under-12 event, Saina Salonika (six) was among the five leaders, the others being Carissa Yip of the United States, Esma Doga Duran of Turkey, Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria, and Tan Huynh Thanh Truc of Vietnam. Divya Deshmukh (5.5) slipped to the third spot in the Under-10 championship, one point adrift of the sole leader Bat-Erdene Mungunzul. In the Under-8 section, B. Savitha Shri was the sole leader with 6.5 points.

In the Boys’ Under-18 championship, top seed Vaibhav Suri and Aradhya Garag had 4.5 points apiece and were in the 20th and 21st places, 2.5 points behind the leader Masoud Mosadeghpour of Iran. In the Under-16 event, Al Muthiah (five) was in the 15th position with five points, 1.5 behind the leader Adham Fawzy of Egypt.

In the Under-14 section, Raja Harshit (4.5) was in the 27th place, 1.5 points behind four joint leaders. Nihal Sarin (5.5) slipped to the sixth slot in the Under-12 championship, one point behind the sole leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan. R. Pragnananda and American Justin Wang shared the lead in the Under-10 championship with 6.5 points each.

H. Bharath Subramaniyam (6.5) was in the sole lead in the Under-8 championship and half-a-point behind him in the second position was Dev Shah.