India's International Master Magesh Chandran and Woman International Master Dronavalli Harika continued to hold fort in the Asian Juniors Chess Championship at Negombo, Sri Lanka, maintaining their lead with two points each.
Harika was involved in an interesting queen, rook and bishop ending with H Nilavoli and came out with a stunning exchange sacrifice that did her Indian opponent in.
After the win, Harika said, "It was a good compensation, as I had double bishops and the position was winning after the sacrifice."
In the boys' section, Magesh Chandran outwitted compatriot Abhijit Gupta while the pocket dynamite from Vietnam Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son continued to impress with an excellent end game victory over Indian junior Arun Prasad.
Besides Magesh, other Indians who registered wins included Deepan Chakravarthy, P Mokal, Poobesh Anand, Akshay Raj Kore and G Rohit.
Deep Sengupta suffered a shocking loss against Iranian Akrania Seyed Arash.
The most impressive performance of the day came from 13-year-old Nguyen, as he eked out a win from a seemingly drawish ending.
In the girls' section, Y Prathiba, Krutika Nadig and Tania Sachdev were the Indians besides Harika to record wins on the day.
J E Kavitha, N Vinuthna and Saheli Nath lost their respective matches while J Rajasuriya held Mary Ann Gomes to a draw.
Round 2 Results (Boys): Nguyen Ngoc Truong 2.0 (VIE) beat S Arun Prasad 1.0 (IND); Abhijit Gupta 1.0 (IND) lost to P Magesh Chandran 2.0 (IND); Himanshu Kumar (IND) 1.0 lost to J Deepan Chakkravarthy 2.0 (IND); Deep Sengupta 1.0 (IND) lost to Akbarnia Seyed Arash 2.0 (IRI); Wijesinghe D D 1.0 (SL) lost to P Mokal 2.0 (IND); S Poobesh Anand 2.0 (IND) beat Hoang Canh Huan 1.0 (VIE); Wijethunga C 1.0 (SL) lost to Akshay Raj Kore 2.0 (IND); O Khamzim 2.0 (KAZ) beat Dimuthu Priyadarshana 1.0 (SL); G Rohit 1.5 (IND) beat Foudzi Johan Iskanda (MAS) 0.5.
Round 2 Results (Girls): D Harika 2.0 (IND) beat H Nilavoli 1.0 (IND); Saheli Nath 1.0 (IND) lost to Tania Sachdev (2.0); Y Prathiba 2.0 (IND) beat Mahima Rajmohan 1.0 (IND); J E Kavitha 1.0 (IND) lost to Kruttika Nadig 2.0 (IND); Luong Phong Hanh 2.0 (VIE) beat N Vinuthna 1.0 (IND); J Rajasurya 1.5 (IND) drew with Mary Ann Gomes 1.5 (IND); W Chinthamani 1.5 (SL) beat L Ayodya 0.5 (SL).
