Grandmaster Levon Aronian of Armenia ended English GM Luke McShane's party with a crushing victory in the sixth round of the 41st World junior chess championship in Panaji, Goa, on Friday.

Ni Hua, the top seed in the previous edition of the championship, joined Aronian in lead on five points by outsmarting
Sergei Azarov of Belarus.

Five players including top seed GM Bu Xiangzhi of China and GM Pendyala Harikrishna share the joint third position with 4.5 points each while as many as 16 players share the next spot in standings list with four points each.

Playing white, Harikrishna got the better of compatriot Neelotpal Das in a brilliantly played endgame. Up against one
of the side variations of Slav defence, Harikrishna got a slight advantage after the opening with his Bishop pair.

Neelotpal held on to his own in the complexities of the middle game but a slight miscalculation in the ensuing minor pieces endgame cost him dearly as Harikrishna knocked down all black pawns barring one, which was contained by the Bishop. The game lasted 48 moves.

Aronian maintained a nagging advantage for the major part of the game against McShane. Earlier in the opening, the
players followed routine manoeuvres of a King's Indian Fianchetto variation and Aronian's exploits on the king's wing
came in handy.

McShane found some solace after sacrificing his rook for a Bishop but did not survive for long. Aronian clinched the
issue in 47 moves.