Higher seeded boys are cruising smoothly while the top-rated girls are struggling at the end of the second round of the Stree Seva Mandir Asian junior chess championship here.
Eleven of the 13 leaders after round two on Wednesday are from India.
Pascua Haridas (Phi) and Akkozov Berik (Kaz) are the visitors who managed to score two wins in an India-dominated field.
Seven rounds remain to be played.
The 11 Indians on full two points are: B. Adhiban, Vidit Gujrathi, Lalith Babu, S.P. Sethuraman, Ashwin Jayaram, N. Srinath, Shyam Nikhil, Shyam Sundar, S. Nitin, K. Priyadharshan and C.R.G. Krishna.
Second seed Gujrathi played the ending in clinical fashion to down Saravanakrishnan with a passed queen pawn in 56 moves with black.
Third seed and former National junior champion Lalith Babu gave a great positional display to defeat his Andhra Statemate Mehar Chinna Reddy in 33 moves.
Fourth seed and World under-16 champion Sethuraman found a 25th-move intermezzo to win a rook for bishop that helped him eventually defeat V.A.V. Rajesh in 57 moves.
In a thrilling 51-move queening race, N. Srinath, former World under-12 champion, prevailed over Tan Welliang of Singapore to be among the leaders.
Higher seeds struggled in the girls' section once again. None of the higher rated players in the top five tables won.
Eight players are leading with maximum two points and it does not figure any of the top eight seeded players.
Mohana Priya of Chennai spotted a tactic to win a pawn on move 20. Top seed Padmini Rout fought back to draw in 37 moves.
Biggest upset
In the biggest upset so far, second seed and National junior girls' champion Bhakti Kulkarni went down in 32 moves. Nandhidhaa from Namakkal in Tamil Nadu attacked a knight and also threatened to win a rook with a discovered tactic on move 31 that gave her a memorable win.
Former World under-10 girls' champion Sahajasri of Karimnagar scored a lucky win over third seed Hejazipour Mitra of Iran. Sahajasri who was being crushed in the middlegame revived around the time control to win a rook and hunt the black king.
Important results (round two):
Boys: B. Adhiban 2 bt Arun Karthik 1, P. Saravana Krishnan 1 lost to Vidit Gujrathi 2, M.R. Lalith Babu 2 bt Mehar Chinna Reddy 1, V.A.V. Rajesh 1 lost to S.P. Sethuraman 2, Ashwin Jayaram 2 bt G.V. Sai Krishna 1, R. Ashwath 1.5 drew with Swapnil Dhopade 1.5, Anwesh Upadhyaya 1.5 drew with Abhishek Kelkar 1.5, Sayantan Das 1.5 drew with P. Karthikeyan 1.5, Debashis Das 1.5 drew with U.R. Sahoo 1.5, N. Srinath 2 bt Tan Welliang (Sin) 1.
Girls: J. Mohana Priya 1.5 drew with Padmini Rout 1.5, Bhakti Kulkarni 1 lost to P.V. Nandhidhaa 2, C. Sahajasri 2 bt Hejazipour Mitra (Iri) 1, A. Akshaya 1.5 drew with Shalmali Gagare 1.5, Pon N. Krithika 1 lost to B. Pratyusha 2, Afsar Niusha (Iri) 1 lost to R. Bharathi 2, Jeslin Tay (Sin) 2 bt Sai Nirupama 1, A. Sithalatchumi 1 lost to Vo Thi Kim Phung (Vie) 2, S. Harini 2 bt Michelle Catherina 1, Mitali Patil 2 bt M.T. Sahithi 1.
