World Youth Chess: Iran's Aryan in lead, Praggnanandhaa, Mitrabha in 2nd spot

India's Grand Master R. Praggnanandhaa slipped to the second position after settling for a quick draw against top seed Sargsyan Shant of Armenia.

India's Grand Master R. Pragnanandhaa during the World Youth Chess Championship.

Indians continued to be in the lead in the under-14 sections, with L. R. Srihari, R. Abinandhan and Rakshitta Ravi doing the front-running at six points after seven rounds of World Youth chess championship here on Monday.

Divya Deshmukh, top seed in the girls’ under-14, scored a hard-fought win to stay within half point of Rakshitta and two others.

In the under-18 section, second seed R. Praggnanandhaa drew with top seeded Armenian Shant Sargsyan and slipped to second place. Joint overnight leader Iran’s Aryan Gholami won and moved half-a-point ahead at six points.

Mitrabha Guha matched Praggnanandhaa’s tally of 5.5 points with an easy win. A further half-point behind was GM P. Iniyan.

Among the under-18 girls, Vantika Agarwal carved out a win to share the second spot at 5.5 points, half a point behind Russian leader Polina Shuvalova.

In the under-16 section, Aronyak Ghosh shared the second place at 5.5 points. Among the girls, B. Mounika Akshaya was placed fifth with five points.