By IANS
New Delhi : Ivana Furtado, the reigning world under-eight girls champion, is back in lead with a fine win in the ninth round over Nguyen Thanh Thuy Tien of Vietnam at the World Youth Chess Championships in Antalya, Turkey.
The tiny girl from Goa, who first won the title last year in Georgia, has just one loss in the tournament, which came at the hands of another Indian, C.H. Meghna, in the fifth round.
Ivana will now clash with co-leader Gunay Mammadzana of Azerbaijan. Both Ivana and Gunay have 7.5 points and in the tenth and final round, the Indian girl will have black pieces.
Meghna, who started the tournament as the second seed, is lying sixth.
The only other Indian player in the top-three is Asian junior champion Mary Ann Gomes, currently third with 6.5 points in the girls under-18 section. After winning the first six games, Mary Ann, who won a bronze at the 2006 World Youth Chess Championships, lost two games in a row and then managed only a draw in the ninth round against Nargiz Umadova of Azerbaijan.
In boys under-14, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, who was leading after eight rounds, dropped back with a loss to Wang Chen of China. Vidit has seven points, while Wang and Niles Grandelius of Sweden have 7.5 points each. Vidit meets Armenian Samvel Ter-Shakhiyan in the tenth and final round.
Prince Bajaj, silver medallist last year, is lying fifth in the boys under-10 section.
Results and standings of Indian players after the ninth round:
Under-8 Boys:
Shahi Harshal (6.0) – 15th; Shah Hetul (6.0) – 19th; Arjun Bharat (5.5) – 25th;
G.V. Revanth Reddy (5.5) – 32nd; J.J. Ebenezer (5.0) – 38th; Nagasai Yeshwanth (5.0) – 44th; Srivastav Shivam (4.5) – 55th
Under-8 Girls:
Ivana Maria Furtado (7.5) – 1st; C.H. Meghna (6.5) – 6th; P. Preethy (5.5) – 21st; C.R. Varsha (4.0) – 41st; Prathima Muthyala Bansi (4.0) – 48th
Under-10 Boys:
Prince Bajaj (7.0) – 5th; Vaibhav Suri (6.5) – 9th; Gagare Shardul (6.5) – 10th; C.H. Mohineesh (5.5) – 29th; A. Koushik Girish (5.5) – 37th; M. Satvik (5.0) – 61st
Under-10 Girls:
Aishwarya Gorthy (5.5) – 23rd; M. Mahalakshmi (5.5) – 27th; G.V. Sai Krishna (5.5) – 30th; U. Ashwini (5.0) – 36th
Under-12 Boys:
Sahaj Grover (6.5) – 12th; Khosla Shiven (6.0) – 19th; Utkal Ranjan Sahoo (5.0) – 49th; Fenil Shah (5.0) – 54th
Under-12 Girls:
Priyanka Kumari (6.5) – 7th; Vaishnavi J. (6.0) – 14th; Pratyusha Bodda (6.0) – 15th; Ch Sahajasri (5.5) – 29th; Krishna Anjana S. (5.5) – 31st; M.N. Vyshnavi (5.0) – 49th; Michelle Catherina (4.5) – 72nd
Under-14 Boys:
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (7.0) – 4th; S.P. Sethuraman (6.5) – 9th; Prasanna Rao (6.0) – 19th; Narayanan Srinath (6.0) – 26th; Mehar Chinna Reddy (5.5) – 31st; Pranav Shetty (4.5) – 73rd; Atishay Ajmera (4.5) – 77th
Under-14 Girls:
J. Mohana Priya (6.5) – 7th; Gagare Shalmali (6.5) – 10th; N.L.V. Anusha (6.5) – 12th; Padmini Rout (6.0) – 20th; Kotepalli Sai Nirupama (4.5) – 51st
Under-16 Boys:
R. Ashwath (6.0) – 22nd; B. Adhiban (5.5) – 30th; S. Nitin (5.5) 34th; V.A.V. Rajesh (5.0) – 49th
Under-16 Girls:
P. Uthra (5.5) – 28th; Bhakti Kulkarni (5.0) – 32nd; Pon N. Krithika (5.0) – 33rd; Mitali Madhukar Patil (4.5) – 43rd
Under-18 Boys:
Rohit Gogineni (5.5) – 26th; Sai Srinivas (5.5) – 27th; M.R. Lalith Babu (5.0) – 52nd;
Under-18 Girls:
Mary Ann Gomes (6.5) – 3rd; R. Preethi (6.0) – 15th; Kiran Manisha Mohanty (5.0) – 25th