Al Ain: The Christmas Day Break came at a suitable time for the participants in different competitions of the 13th World Youth Chess Championships to take stock of their positions ahead of the crucial stages of the tournament which comes to an end on Saturday.
The UAE’s Ebrahim Sultan, competing in the Under-16 Open, will use the break to sit with his coach to prepare for the final three rounds as he is only 1.5 points behind the leaders.
In the Under-8 girls’ section, India’s Divya Jitendra lost to Mongolian Mungunzul Bat-Erdene, who became the new joint leader with seven points with Chinese Qian Wan to face each other in the ninth round on Thursday while Diya remained close with 6.5 points.
Saina Salonika of India became the new leader of the Under 10 Girls competition beating former leader and her compatriot Lakshmi Chidambaram. Salonika, with 7 points, will face Russian Anastasia Vuller, 6.5 points, while Lakshmi is near with half a point behind the leader.
Vaishali Ramesh Babu of India progressed well to share the leadership of the Under-12 with two other players on seven points each.
She will next face co-leader Khanim Balajayeva from Azerbaijan in the ninth round while Polina Shuvalova from Russia, also on seven points, will face Shengxin Zhang from China with 6.5 points.
Russian Anna Vasenina is one of the few competitors who did not lose a single match yet and collected nine points from as many rounds in the Under-14 girls competition. She will next face Mai Narva from Estonia, with 6.5 points.
A total of seven players share the leadership of the Under-16 girls’ competition with 6.5 points each. The top-of-the-board clash will feature Iranian Sarasadat Khademalsharieh against Indian Mahalakshmi Mugunda Kumar, who defeated former leader Tianlu Gu from China I in the eighth round.
The two leaders of the Under-18 Girls competition, Nastassia Ziaziulkina of Belarus and Lidia Tomnikoa from Russia, with 6.5 points each, will play against each other in the ninth round. The UAE’s Amna Noman, however, lost her match to Russian Veronika Lezhepekova and remained with 4 points.
The UAE’s Rashid Shaeri defeated Elmir Alnur Abadov of Azerbaijan to increase his tally to four points to lead the local boys in the competition. Sultan Al Darmaki and Harib Al Shamsi are close behind with 3.5 points each.
India’s Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari and Armenian Aram Hakobyan became the new joint leaders of the Under-12 Open after Srihari defeated Robby Kevlishvili of Holland and Hakobyan drew with former leader Andrey Esipenko of Russia. The two leaders with seven points each will face each other in the 9th round.
Meanwhile, China’s Di Li continued his good performances in the Under-14 category and will face joint leader Aryan Tari from Norway, each with 7.5 points. The UAE’s Mohammad Marshool beat Rhys Bennett of Wales to lead among the local boys with four points. He will play against Reza Akhgari from Iran on Thursday.
