World Junior Chess Championship 2024: Gharibyan beats Makarian, Divya inches closer to title

Divya will emerge as the clear champion if she wins against Beloslava Krasteva of Bulgaria. Mkrtchyan defeated Sri Lanka’s Oshini Gunawardhana to keep her hopes alive. The Armenian is on 8.5 points.

Mamikon Gharibyan (right) beat Rudik Makarian to take sole lead going into the final round of the World junior chess championship at Gandhinagar. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Divya Deshmukh on Wednesday posted another win to further brighten her chances going into the final round of the World Junior girls’ chess championship. She has a half-a-point lead over Mariam Mkrtchyan of Armenia.

In an all-Indian battle on the top board in the 10th round at the Gift City Club, Divya defeated Sachi Jain, whose weak manoeuvres with her knights on successive moves proved costly in the Queen Gambit Declined game.

The top seed won in 26 moves to take her tally to nine points.

If Divya wins against Beloslava Krasteva of Bulgaria, she will emerge as the clear champion.

Mkrtchyan defeated Sri Lanka’s Oshini Gunawardhana to keep her hopes alive. The Armenian is on 8.5 points.

An Armenian, though, is in the sole lead position in the open section. The 15th seed Mamikon Gharibyan, who defeated the sixth-seeded Russian Rudik Makarian on the top board, has eight points and is followed half a point behind by four players, including Makarian.

Important results (10th round)

Open: Rudik Makarian (FIDE) 7 lost to Mamikon Gharibyan (Arm) 8; Daniel Quizon (Phi) 7.5 drew with Kazybek Nogerbek (Kaz) 7.5; Jose Gabriel Cardoso (Col) 7 lost to Emin Ohanyan (Arm) 7.5; Aleksey Grebnev (FIDE) 6 lost to Luka Budisavljevic (Srb) 7.5; Artion Stribuk (FIDE) 6.5 drew with Pranav Anand 6.5; Baris Ozenir (Tur) 7 bt Siddharth Jagadeesh (Sgp) 6; Vuppala Praneeth 6 lost to Shawn Rodrigue-Lemmieux (Can) 7; Arsen Davtyan (Arm) 6.5 drew with L.R. Srihari 6.5; Bendeguz Bodrogi (Hun) 6 lost to Tobias Koelle (Ger) 7; Aditya Samant 7 bt Ethan Vaz 6.

Girls: Divya Deshmukh 9 bt Sachi Jain 7; Oshini Gunawardhana (SL) 6.5 lost to Mariam Mkrtchyan (Arm) 8.5; Narmin Abdinova (Aze) 6.5 lost to Rakshitta Ravi 7.5; Shubhi Gupta 7 drew with Ksenia Norman (FIDE) 7; Ayan Allahverdiyeva (Aze) 7.5 bt Swara Lakshmi Nair 6; Beloslava Krasteva (Bul) 7 bt Sannidhi Bhat 6; Martyna Wikar (Pol) 7 bt Sneha Halder 6; Sofia Hryzlova (Sui) 6.5 drew with V. Rindhiya 6.5; Meryem Agajanova (Tkm) 6 lost to Ayalum Kaladorva (Kaz) 6.5; Xeniya Balabayeva (Kaz) 6.5 bt Kheerthi Ganta 5.5.