Jeffrey Xiong moved into sole lead with a win over Aravindh Chithambaram in the eight round of the World Junior Chess Championships, at the KIIT University campus in Bhubaneswar on Monday.
The second-seeded American, who has looked the most solid player in the championship, took full advantage of some unwise moves from Aravindh to post a crucial win and take his tally to 6.5 points. “I wouldn’t say I was as lucky in this game as I was against Karthikeyan a day ago, but Aravindh certainly made things easier for me in what was a sharp game that could have gone either way,” Xiong said, after winning in 43 moves from the white side of a Sicilian Rossolimo.
Four players – Karthikeyan Murali of the host, Xu Yinglun of China, Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran and Poland’s Grzegorz Nasuta — are half-a-point behind the leader, with five rounds remaining in the tournament.
In the girls’ championship, there is no change at the top with Dinara Dordzhieva of Russia and Janelle Mae Frayna of Philippines sharing the lead with 6.5 points each. Half-a-point behind them are P.V. Nandhidhaa of Tamil Nadu and top seed Dinara Saduakassova of Kazakhstan.
There was more joy for the Indian girls on the Independence Day, with M. Mahalakshmi shocking seventh seed Anna Styazhkina of Russia and Srija Seshadri celebrating her 19th birthday with a victory over sixth seed Oliwia Kiolbasa of Poland.
Tuesday is a rest day.
Important results (eighth round; Indians unless specified): Grzegorz Nasuta (Pol) 6 drew with Xu Yinglun (Chn) 6; Jeffrey Xiong (USA) 6.5 bt Aravindh Chithambaram 5; Parham Maghsoodloo (Ira) 6 bt S.L. Narayanan 5; Rasmus Svane (Ger) 5.5 drew with Christoph Menezes (Aut) 5.5; Masoud Mosadeghpour (Ira) 5 lost to Karthikeyan Murali 6; Seyed Khalil Mousavi (Ira) 4.5 lost to Vladislav Artemiev (Rus) 5.5; Bozidar Ivekovic (Cro) 5.5 bt Kirill Alekseenko (Rus) 4.5; Xu Yi (Chn) 5 drew with Shadul Gagare 5; Stefan Beukema (Bel) 5.5 bt R. Pragnananda 4.5; Rajdeep Sarkar 4.5 drew with Dennis Wagner (Ger) 4.5; Cristobal Henriquez Villagara (Chi) 5 btt Mikhail Belous (Ukr) 4; Calin Gheorghiu (Rom) 4 lost to Shahin Lorparizangeneh (Ira) 5; Tran Tuan Minh (Vie) 4.5 drew with Patrik Grandadam (Swi) 4.5.
Girls: P.V. Nandhidhaa 6 drew with Dinara Dordzhieva (Rus) 6.5; Janelle Mae Frayna (Phi) 6.5 drew with Nataliya Buksa (Ukr) 5.5; Dinara Saduakassova (Kaz) 6 bt Saina Salonika 5; K. Priyanka 5 Alina Bivol (Rus) 5; Michelle Catherina 5.5 drew with Gu Tianlu (Chn) 4.5; Paula Rodriguez Rueda 5.5 bt Mobina Alinasab (Ira) 4.5; Teodora Injac (Srb) 5 drew with R. Vaishali 5; M. Mahalakshmi 5.5 bt Anna Styazhkina (Rus) 4; Pratyusha Bodda 4 lost to Harshita Guddanti 5; Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova (Uzb) 5 bt Karina Ivanova (Rus) 4.
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