Asian junior chess | Tejaswini takes one-point lead into the final round

G. Tejaswini pounced on a lucky break to take a 1-pt lead in Tata Steel Asian Jr. Girls' Chess Championship. 3 players trail with 6 pts each. In Open, 4 players lead with 6 pts each. Tejaswini needs only a draw in last round to win title.

She blundered from a winning position, but her opponent paid back the compliment immediately, missing out on the chance to draw. G. Tejaswini pounced on that lucky break, went on to defeat Bristy Mukherjee and took a full one-point lead into the final round of the Tata Steel Asian junior girls’ chess championship.

The 16-year-old from Chennai is on seven points after Thursday’s eighth round and needs only a draw in the last round to win the title. The game lasted 95 moves and checkmate was just one when Bristy resigned. “I had the advantage long before and should have won many moves earlier,” Tejaswini, seeded 11th, said.

Three players — top seed Nazerke Nurgali of Kazakhstan, third seed Bommini Mounika Akshaya and Bristy — are in the second position, with six points apiece.

In the open section, four players are in the lead, with six points each — top seed Aleksey Grebnev from Russia, S. Rohith Krishna, Ayush Sharma and S. Aswath.

Important results (eighth round): Open: S. Rohith Krishna 6 drew with Aleksey Grebnev (FIDE) 6; Manish Cristiano 5.5 drew with S. Aswath 6; Sambit Panda 5.5 drew with L. Srihari 5.5; Gilbert Tarigan 4.5 lost to Ayush Sharma 6; Zhangir Bizhigitov (Kaz) 5 drew with L.R. Srihari 5; Kushagra Mohan 4.5 lost to Ajay Parvathareddy 5.5; Mayank Chakraborty 5.5 bt Ritvik Krishnan 4.5; Alekhya Mukhopadhyay 5.5 bt Avinash Ramesh 4.5; M. Mohamed Anees 4 lost to Dilshan Liyanage (SL) 5; Arjun Adireddy 4 lost to Tahsin Zia (Ban) 5; Reja Neer Manon 4.5 drew with Abdilkhair Abilmansur (Kaz) 4.5; B. Vignesh 3.5 lost to Dhyey Agarwal 5.

Girls: G. Tejaswini 7 bt Bristy Mukherjee 6; Nazerke Nurgali (Kaz) 6 drew with Bommini Mounika Akshaya 6; Mrittika Mallick 5.5 drew with Mrudul Dehankar 5.5; Saina Salonika 5.5 bt Sherali Pattnaik 4.5; Zeinep Sultanbek (Kaz) 4.5 lost to Ayaulym Kaldarova (Kaz) 5.5; Divya Patil 4.5 lost to Anastasia Ivanova (FIDE) 5.5; Shubhi Gupta 5 drew with Keerti Reddy 5; V. Rindhiya 5 bt Dhanashree Khairmode 4; Bhagyashree Patil 5 bt Dahamadi Sanudula (SL) 4; M.K. Poorna Sri 5 bt Kriti Patel 4.5.