Srinath retains Asian Junior Chess title

India's International Master Narayanan Srinath retained his Asian Junior chess title while compatriot J Saranya finished runner-up in the girls' championship that concluded at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday.

Srinath, who had won the Asian Junior Championship title at Tashkent in June last to earn his maiden Grandmaster norm, won seven games and drew two to defend his Asian title.

His title defence gives Srinath another Grandmaster norm. He is also a former world under-12 champion having won it at Belfort in France in 2005.

Sahaj Grover of Delhi was second, as he also remained undefeated just like Srinath. Top seed Grandmaster Salem Saleh of UAE finished third losing to Srinath and to a Vietnamese.

The girls' event was dominated by the Vietnamese players. Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnam won the event ahead of top seed and country-mate Nguyen Thi Mai Hung on seven points from nine games.

Woman FIDE Master J Saranya of Chennai finished with the silver medal and had the satisfaction of being the only player to defeat the champion. Saranya gains over 10 Elo rating points and had the highest tie-break on 6.5 points among three players. Defending champion Ivana Furtado of Goa slipped to sixth place.

In the Asian Junior blitz chess, Anurag Mhamal and Grover tied for top spot on eight points out of a possible nine. Anurag was declared champion on better tie-break score. Vo Thi Kim Phung (Vietnam) won the Asian Junior girls blitz championship title.