Indian dominance is gathering steam in the Asian Youth chess championship that is underway at Hikkaduwa in western Sri Lanka.
At the half-way mark, 14 Indians are leading in the 14-section Asian age group meet. Five of the nine rounds have been completed in most sections. Except the under-18 and under-6 sections, India has one leader or more in most of the other sections.
Saranya is among the three leaders with four points in the under-18 section for girls.
In the under-18 section, Abhilash Reddy has already defeated the top seed and is perched in joint second place with 3.5 points from five games.
In the under-16 section for girls, top seed Nandhidhaa is sharing the lead on four points from five games with two others.
In the under-16 section, third seed Girish Koushik (4.5/5) had opened a half point lead over countryman and second seed S.L. Narayanan (4).
Top seed Ivana Furtado wrested sole lead on Thursday morning with a victory to reach 4.5 points from five rounds in the under-14 section for girls.
Second seed Aravind Chithambaram is among the two leaders in the under-14 section with four points. Top seed and world under-12 champion Karthikeyan Murali is bunched with others in the next points group on 3.5.
Top seed R. Vaishali had established a clear one point lead in the under-12 section for girls. She has scored full five points and faces Tarini Goyal also of India in the next round.
Top seed Abhimanyu Puranik and Rakesh Kumar Jena are among the four leaders on four points from five rounds in the under-12 section.
Two Indians, C. Lakshmi and N. Priyanka are leading the under-10 section for girls with 4.5 points from five games.
Ram Aravind, who failed to make it to the podium in the Asian Under-10 rapid championship earlier this week, had wrested sole lead in classical chess with 4.5 points.
Bhagyashree Patil (4.5/5) wrested sole lead in the under-8 section for girls defeating teammate Rindhiya.
Praggnanandhaa moved into joint lead with 4.5 points in the under-8 section.
Sanskruti Wankhade leads by a clear one point margin in the under-6 section for girls with three points from as many games.
In the under-six section, Vallabh Kavi moved half a point closer to the leader with four points. Mongolia’s Tugstumur is on 4.5 points.
Keywords: Asian Youth chess championship
