Date:13/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/13/stories/2008081352242100.htm

Sport - Chess

Harika stays ahead

NEW DELHI: A short draw with teammate Soumya Swaminathan on the top board saw favourite D. Harika retain the lead after the girls’ ninth round in the World junior chess championship at the Turkish town of Gaziantep on Monday.

With four rounds to go, Harika has 7.5 points and leads second-seeded Ukrainian Mariya Muzychuk and Georgia’s Miranda Mikadze by half-a-point. Soumya shares the fourth spot with Kazakhstan’s Guliskhan Nakhbayeva at 6.5 points.

In the Open section, Abhijeet Gupta defeated compatriot Deep Sengupta and joined Parimarjan Negi at six points. Negi drew with Georgian Tornike Sanikdze while S. Arun Prasad did well to prove equal to the 10th seeded Vietnamese Liam Le Quang.

In Athens, Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury drew with fifth-seeded GM Dmitry Svetushkin in the third round of the Acropolis International.

The results (involving Indians): World juniors (ninth round): Open: Tornike Sanikidze (Geo, 6) drew with Parimarjan Negi (6); S. Arun Prasad (5.5) drew with Liam Le Quang (Vie, 5.5); Abhijeet Gupta (6) bt Deep Sengupta (5); Lin Chen (Chn, 5.5) drew with G.N. Gopal (5); P. Karthikeyan (5.5) bt Dariusz Swiercz (Pol, 4.5); Atakan Sirin (Tur, 5.5) bt Aswin Jayaram (4.5); Ioannis Papadopoulos (Gre, 4.5) drew with Vishnu Prasanna (4.5); Akshayraj Kore (4.5) bt Pavel Vavric (Mda, 3.5); Sahaj Grover (3.5) bt Pratish Ramsurrup (RSA, 2.5).

Girls: D. Harika (7.5) drew with Soumya Swaminathan (6.5): Kruttika Nadig (5.5) drew with R. Preethi (5.5); Mary Ann Gomes (5) drew with Khayala Isgandarova (Aze, 5); Padmini Rout (4.5) drew with Eric Jovena (Srb, 5).

Acropolis International (third round): Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury (2) drew with Dmitry Svetushkin (Mda, 2); V. Saravanan (1.5) lost to Hristos Banikas (Gre, 2.5).