India on course for clean sweep

With three Indians assuring themselves of gold medals in their respective age-groups, and a number of others in the lead at the end of the sixth and penultimate round on Thursday, India look set for a clean sweep of titles in the Asian Youth chess championships in Kozikhode.

G Rohit (under-14 boys), Lakshmi Praneetha (under-12 girls) and Lakshmi Sahiti (under-10 girls) were the youngsters who proved their class and assured themselves of a gold each.

While Sahiti took an unassailable 1.5 point lead over her nearest rival with her sixth straight victory, second seed Rohit and Praneetha will claim the top position on account of a better progressive scores even if they lose their last round matches tomorrow and allow their opponents to catch them on points.

In the under-12 boys' section, Y Sandeep shares the lead at five points with top seed Le Quang Liem, who is the sole foreign contender for a gold medal.

Six Indians are locked for title honours in under-10 boys' category.

In today's matches, Rohit played out a draw with Abhijeet Gupta to move to 5.5 points. Rohit employed King's Indian defence and chose the Spanish variation. The game lasted 23 moves. Gupta is among three players in joint second spot with 4.5 points.

Seventh seed Sahiti maintained her all-win record, beating sixth seed Kiruba H Arasu in a Sicilian defence against the King-Pawn opening to win in 50 moves.

In second spot was Rucha S Pujari on 4.5 points.

In the girls' under-12 section, Praneetha defeated Bhakti Kulkarni in a Benoni defence for her sixth straight victory to assure herself of the title.

Top seed I Ramya Krishna was placed second with five points after she defeated Ngo Dieh Hoa of Vietnam today.

In other matches of the day, fourth seed Rahul Sangma held top seed Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam in the boys' under-14 category. Both players are in joint second position with 4.5 points.

In the under-12 boys' section, fifth seed K Narayanan played attacking chess to beat compatriot Navneet Sharma and remain second.

Among the six competitors for the title in under-10 boys, defending champion Parimarjan Negi outplayed Udesi Aditya, while Ravi Teja defeated Dhaval Sanjay Adhav.

Mangalore lad Vieanni Antonio D'Cunha improved in the middle game to defeat Omkar Sanjay Davate.

Results: (sixth round)

Boys

Under-14: Abhijeet Gupta (IND) 4.5 drew with Rohit G (IND) 5.5; Rahul Sangma (IND) 4.5 drew with Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (VIE) 4.5; Premnath R (IND) 3.5 lost to Dasari Sai Srinivas (IND) 4.5; Gopal G N (IND) 4.5 bt Vijay Keerthi K (IND) 3; Baltabaye Nursultan (SRI) 3.5 drew with Toufighi Tamijani Homayoon (IRAN) 3.5; Shah Vishal Vijay (IND) 3.5 bt Navin Khanna T U (IND) 3; Balachandar G (IND) 3.5 bt Aswin Jayaram (IND) 2.5; Nguyen Vi et Chang (VIE) 2 lost to Suraj M (IND) 3.5; Vijaya Raghavan T V (IND) 2.5 drew with Behmardi Kalantari R (IRAN) 2.5; Ankit Chauhan (I ND) 2 lost to Saravana Krishnan P (IND) 3; Joshua Tan Hoong Yu (MAL) 2 lost to Srinivasan R (IND) 3; Ven Prakash K V (IND) 2 lost to Karthikeyan P (IND) 3; Sanchit Chauhan (IND) 2 drew with Palawa tta I R (SRI) 2; Aman Chahal (IND) 1.5 lost to Bhor Akshay (IND) 2.

Under-12: Le Quang Liem (VIE) 5 drew with Sandeep Y (IND) 5; Navneet Sharma (IND) 3.5 lost to Naryanan K (IND) 4.5 Ashwath (IND) 4 bt Adithya B (IND) 3; Mankeyev Rollan (KAZ) 4 bt Nitin S (IND) 3; Prachura P P (IND) 4 bt Abhishek Kelkar (IND) 3; Yuzvendra S Chahal (IND) 2.5 lost to Adhiban B (IND) 3.5; Karthikeyan S (IND) 2 lost to (W/O) Mahudeeswaran R (IND) 3; Adithya Vikas R (IND) 2.5 drew with Swapnil A Shah 2.5; Sai Sashank P (IND) 2 lost to Kamli Amogh (IND) 3; Sankalp Modwal (IND) 3 bt Abhishek Ravi (IND) 1.5; Mofathami Mohammad R (IRAN) 1 lost to Shakthi Ediriweera (SRI) 1.5.

Under-10: Srinath N (IND) 4.5 lost to Sethuraman S P (IND) 4.5; Udesi Aditya (IND) 3.5 lost to Parimarjan Negi (IND) 4.5; Ravi Teja S (IND) 4.5 bt Dhaval Sanjay ADhav (IND) 3.5; Vieanni Antonio D'Cunha (IND) 4.5 bt Omkar Sanjay Davate (IND) 3.5; Priyadarshan K (IND) 4.5 bt Sahej Grover (IND) 3; Shah Fenil (IND) 4 bt Chua Zheng Yuan Terry (SIG) 3; Koohestani Md Azad (IRAN) 3.5 bt Oshadhi V Kottahachchy (SRI) 2.5;Vishal V Thakre
(IND) 2.5 lost to Mirzaei Saleh (IRAN) 3.5; Christer Jon Aplin (SIG) 2.5 drew with M A Akila Hemal Ratnayage (SRI) 2.5; Balkishan A (IND) 3 bt Tuietayev Maksat (KAZ) 2; Shiven Kosla (IND) 3 bt Hareesh Bab Kandi (IND) 2; Fong Yip Siang (MAL) 1.5 lost to Lam Thanh Nhon (VIE) 2.5; Chan Yi Ren Daniel (SIG) 1.5 drew with Ankit R Rajpara (IND) 1.5.

Girls

Under-14: Soumya Swaminathan (IND) 4 drew with Rajasurya (IND) 5; Pallavi Maiya H P (IND) 4.5 drew with Luon Nhate Linh (VIE) 4.5;Raghavi N (IND) 4 bt Pham Bich Ngoc (VIE) 4 Anjanaa N Sowjanyaa (IND) 3 lost to Saheli Nath (IND) 4; Kira Monisha Mohanty (IND) 3 lost to Harini S (IND) 3.5; Sindhi V K (IND) 3 drew with Saba A Mhate (IND) 3; Prateeka G (IND) 2.5 drew with Mary Ann Gomes (IND) 2.5; Ketaki S Kulkarni (IND) 3 bt Roshni (IND) 2; Sowmya H (IND) 2.5 bt Nayana Rao K (IND) 1.5; Gamage Yasoda M (SRI) 1.5 lost to Kajri Pradip Chokshi (IND) 2.

Under-12: Kulkarni Bhakti P (IND) 3 lost to Lakshmi Praneetha (IND) 6; Ngo Dieh Hoa (VIE) 3.5 lost to Ramya Krishna I (IND) 5; Pragna Patavi M (IND) 4 drew with Pon N Krithikha (IND 3.5; Manogna Mandova (IND) 3.5 bt Jayashree P K (IND) 3; Mital Madhukar Patil (IND) 3 drew with Dhara Gupta (IND) 3; Udan Vindya Hemanthage (SRI) 2.5 drew with Aparna R (IND) 3; Dhyani B Dave (IND) 3 bt Ashvithi Walallwita (SRI) 1.5; Ratnamanikyam K S (IND) 2.5 beat Indrani (IND) 2.

Under-10: Kiruba H Arasu (IND) 3 lost to Lakshmi Sahiti (IND) 6; Rucha S Pujari (IND) 4.5 drew with Chaitanya V (IND) 4; Mohana Priya J (IND) 3.5 drew with Bhavna V (IND) 3.5; Nguyen N Goc Phuong K (VIE) 4; bt Teenu Thomas Thaliyath (IND) 2.5; Pranali Madhukar Patil (IND) 3.5 b U G S S S Udupitiya (SRI) 2; Sai Nirupama Kotepal (IND) 3 bt Sirisha G (IND) 2; Adeline Gan Li Ling (MAL) 1 lost to Savetha C H (IND) 2.