By IANS
New Delhi : Indian chess player Mary Ann Gomes jointly leads the World Youth Chess Championship in Antalya, Turkey despite losing to Katerina Nemcova of Czech Republic in the seventh round of the under-18 girls section.
According to information reaching here, Gomes and Nemcova share the lead with six points each from seven rounds. The surprise loss Saturday ended the Indian’s winning streak in the last six rounds of the championship.
Kiran Manisha Mohanty also lost her to game to Irina Andrenko of Ukraine. Another Indian R. Preetha lost to Kristine Mzhavia of Georgia. Both Indians have four points each.
Another Indian to share the lead was India’s Santosh Gujrathi Vidit in Boys Under-14. He shared the lead with Russian Sanan Sjurgiov at six points after seven rounds. In the eighth round, Santosh will meet his co-leader Sanan.
S.P. Sethuraman was just half a point behind with 5.5. In the seventh round, Santosh beat another Indian Prasanna Rao (5) to move into lead, while Sethuraman played a draw with Poland’s Vojtech Plat (5). Other Indians are Mehar Chinna Reddy (4.5), N. Srinath (4), Ajmera Atishay (4) and Pranav Shetty (3.5).
In boy’s Under-18 section, Sai Srinivas and G. Rohit have four points each while Lalith Babu has 3.5 points and are way behind leader Russia’s Ivan Popov who has six points from seven rounds.
While in the girl’s Under-16, Bhakti Kulkarni at 10th is the best among four Indians at five points in seven rounds, one point behind leader Georgia’s Keti Tsatsalashivili. N. Krutika has 4.5 points, Mithali Madhukar Patil had four and P. Uthra has 3.5 points.
In boys’ Under-16, R. Ashwath is the best Indian at 20th with five points, while Arkadiusz Lemiart of Poland leads with six points. Others Indians are S. Nitin (4.5), S. Adhiban (4) and A.V. Rajesh (4).
Meanwhile, in girls’ Under-14, Shalmali Gagare with five points in seven rounds is the best Indian with Nazi Pakidze of Georgia in lead at six points. J. Mohan Priya (4.5), Sai Nirupama (4.5), N.L.V. Anusha (4.5) and Padmini Rout (4) are the other Indians in the field.
Priyanka Kumari is the best Indian with 5.5 points with the leader Israel’s Marsel Efroimski in the girl’s Under-12, with a perfect score of seven points in seven round. Priyanka Kumari drew her seventh round game with Eid Maha of France (5.5). Other Indians are Boda Pratyusha (5), J. Vaishnavi (4.5), C. Sahajshri (4.5), Anjana Krishna (4), Catherine Michelle (3.5) and Navya Vaishnavi (3).
In boys’ Under-12, Sahaj Grover, a former winner, was 11th with 5.5 points after seven rounds, a full point behind leader Daniel Naroditsky of US who has 6.5 points. Other Indians are Shivan Khosla (5), Sai Krishna (4.5), Fenil Shah (4.5) and Utkal Ranjan (4). Sahaj beat Jurica Srbis of Croatia in the seventh round to move to 5.5 points.
G. Aishwarya is the best among Indian in the girls’ Under-10, with 4.5 points from seven rounds while Anna Styazhikina of Russia leads the field with 6.5 points. Other Indians in the category are M. Mahalakshmi (4.5) and U. Ashwini (3.5).
In boys’ Under-10, Prince Bajaj and Shardul Gagare were fifth and sixth.
In girls’ Under-8, the youngest section, India’s Ivana Furtado and C. H. Meghna were tied for second with 5.5 points, half a point behind leader Nguyen Thanh Thuy Thien of Vietnam. Both Ivana, who beat Anastasia Sialenchyk of Belarus, and Meghna who beat Mai Narva of Estonia in seventh round won convincingly to come close to the leader Nguyen who lost her seventh round game to Gunay Mammadzada of Azerbaijan, who also has 5.5 points like the two Indian girls. Other Indians in the field are C.R. Varsha (3.5), P. Preethy (3.5), M.B. Prathima (3).
In Boys Under-8, Harshal Shahi of India was tied third with six points from seven rounds half a point behind the co-leaders Konstantin Savenkov and Nikita Avyazyan, who have 6.5 points each. Other Indians are J.J. Ebenezer (5), Hetyul Shah (5), Shivam Srivastav (4.5), Teshwanth Nagasai (4.5), Arjun Bharat (4), G.V. Revanth Reddy 4). In the seventh round, Harsal beat fellow Indian Ebenezer.