Salem FIDE-Master Nitin scored over Swayams Mishra in the eighth and penultimate round to join Shyam Sundar in the lead in the Stree Seva Mandir Asian junior chess championship here on Tuesday.
Nitin and Shyam Sundar are ahead on 6.5 points with just the last round still to be played. In the joint third place are three players, Vidit Gujrathi, Lalith Babu and Mehar Chinna Reddy on six points.
Vidit did not make the best out of the white pieces and drew overnight leader Shyam in 48 moves.
Nitin attacked the defending black rook to win it for a bishop and pocket the game in 42 moves with the white pieces. Nitin's former World Youth Olympiad teammate, Swayams Mishra paid the price of developing his queen's side late in a four knights opening.
Lalith excelled in the rook and minor piece ending by winning pawns to defeat Pouria Darini of Iran in 51 moves.
Girl leaders sign truce
The girls' section is also headed for a photo-finish. Two overnight leaders, Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnam and Nakhbayeva of Kazakhstan drew to remain in joint lead on 6.5 points. Defending champion Padmini Rout, R. Preethi and Jeslin Tay of Singapore are joint thirdwith six points each.
On the top table, former world under-18 runner-up Preethi missed winning chances in the early ending only to draw Nakhbayeva in 67 moves with the white pieces.
A win would have taken top seed Padmini to joint lead. She was only able to draw in a 46-move queen ending with the black pieces against Vo Thi Kim Phung to share the third spot on six points.
Jeslin Tay exhibited some good endgame technique to defeat Hejazipour Mitra in a rook versus bishop and pawn ending.
World champion Viswanathan Anand will give away the prizes on Wednesday at 3.30 p.m. He will also be felicitated by among others, Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifah Al-Nehyan, President, Asian Chess Federation and Ignatius Leong, General Secretary, FIDE.
The results (eighth round, Indian unless stated):
Boys: Vidit Gujrathi 6 drew with Shyam Sundar 6.5, S. Nitin 6.5 bt Swayams Mishra 5.5, Debashis Das 5.5 drew with Mehar Chinna Reddy 6, Lalith Babu 6 bt Darini Pouria (Iri) 5, P. Lokesh 5.5 drew with N. Srinath 5.5, Harihara Sudan 4.5 lost to S.P. Sethuraman 5.5, Ashwin Jayaram 5.5 bt Akkozov Berik (Kaz) 4.5, Pascua Haridas (Phi) 5.5 bt Swapnil Dhopade 4.5, Anwesh Upadhyaya 5.5 bt K. Priyadharshan 4.5.
Girls: R. Preethi 6 drew with Nakhbayeva Guliskhan (Kaz) 6.5, Vo Thi Kim Phung (Vie) 6.5 drew with Padmini Rout 6, Hejazipour Mitra (Iri) 5 lost to Jeslin Tay (Sin) 6, C. Sahajasri 5.5 drew with Sarasadat (Iri) 5, Bhakti Kulkarni 5.5 bt Michelle Catherina 4.5, Mohana Priya 4.5 lost to R. Bharathi 5.5, S. Harini 4 lost to Pv Nandhidhaa 5.5.
