Asian junior chess: Grebnev joined in lead by Rohith, Aswath; Tejaswini, Bristy still at top in girls’ event

Top seed Aleksey Grebnev (RUS) and two Indians, S. Rohith Krishna and S. Aswath, lead the Asian Junior Chess Championship with 5.5 points. 13th seed Bristy Mukherjee and 11th seed G. Tejaswini lead the girls' section with 6 points each. Nazerke Nurgali (KAZ) and Bommini Mounika Akshaya (IND) follow with 5 points. With two rounds left, the tournament is heating up.

Top seed Aleksey Grebnev from Russia was joined at the helm by two Indians on Wednesday at the Asian junior chess championship. Third seed S. Rohith Krishna and 13th seed S. Aswath moved into the lead position after their wins against Ritvik Krishnan and Gilbert Tarigan (Indonesia) respectively.

That was after Grebnev was held to a draw by Ayush Sharma on the top board. With just two rounds remaining, the leaders are on 5.5 points and are followed half a point behind by Sambit Panda, Manish Cristiano, Ayush and L.R. Srihari.

In the girls’ section, 13th seed Bristy Mukherjee and 11th seed G. Tejaswini are sharing the lead with six points each. That was because Tejaswini beat the other overnight leader, Mrittika Mallick, and Bristy overcame Shubhi Gupta. Top seed Nazerke Nurgali of Kazakhstan and third seed Bommini Mounika Akshaya are in second position with five points each.

Important results (seventh round, Indians unless specified):

Open: Aleksey Grebnev (FIDE) 5.5 drew with Ayush Sharma 5; S. Rohith Krishna 5.5 bt Ritvik Krishnan 4.5; S. Aswath 5.5 by Gilbert Tarigan (Ina) 4.5; L.R. Srihari 4.5 lost to Sambit Panda 5; M. Mohamed Anees 4 lost to Manish Cristiano 5; Avinash Ramesh 4.5 drew with Mayank Chakraborty 4.5; L.R. Srihari 5 bt Reja Neer Manon (Ban) 4; Dilshan Liyanage (SL) 4 drew with Alekhya Mukhopadhyay 4.5; Arun Daakshin 3.5 lost to Zhangir Bizhigitov (Kaz) 4.5; Viresh Sharnarthi 3.5 lost to Kushagra Mohan 4.5; G.B. Harshavardhan 3.5 lost to Ajay Parvathareddy 4.5.

Girls: Mrittika Mallick 5 lost to G. Tejaswini 6; Bristy Mukherjee 6 bt Shubhi Gupta 4.5; Keerti Reddy 4.5 lost to Nazerke Nurgali (Kaz) 5.5; Bommini Mounika Akshaya 5.5 bt M.K. Poorna Sri 4; Ayaulym Kaldarova (Kaz)  4.5 drew with Saina Salonika 4.5; Mrudul Dehankar 5 bt Kriti Patel 4; Sherali Pattnaik 4.5 drew with Divya Patil 4.5; Dahamadi Sanudula (SL) 4 drew with V. Rindhiya 4; Dhanashree Khairmode 4 drew with Bhagyashree Patil 4; Dakshita Kumawat 3.5 lost to Zeinep Sultanbek (Kaz) 4.5; L. Jyothsna 3.5 lost to Anastasia Ivanova (FIDE) 4.5.