Chess: Chinese pair share lead

The Chinese duo of Lu Shanglei and Wei Yi scored emphatic wins over Russians Vladimir Fedoseev, the top seed, and Mikhail Antipov in the 10th round of the LIC World Junior Chess Championship here Thursday to remain joint leaders with eight points apiece.

Aravindh Chithambaram, Ankit Rajpara and Diptayan Ghosh along with 10 foreigners are trailing in second place with seven points each.

In the Girls section, top seed Aleksandra Goryachkina enhanced her lead with the shortest victory in this edition of the championship, defeating Sarasadat Khademalsharieh of Iran in just 10 moves.

India's strong contender for the title, Padmini Rout, slipped farther following a draw with Meri Arabidze of Georgia.

Aleksandra has now tallied 8.5 points and Ann Chumpitaz of Peru is trailing a point behind in second position. Padmini Rout, Srija Seshadri along with five overseas players are bunched together in third place with seven points each.

From the Indian angle, the day belonged to rising talented teenager Chithambaram who showcased his defensive skills and perseverance in wriggling out of an inferior position against super GM Jorge Cori of Peru to split the point.

S.L. Narayanan, after making a GM norm Wednesday, ended on the losing side against Ankit Rajpara in an English game which lasted 44 moves.

Important results (Indians unless specified):

Open: Lu Shanglei (Chn) 8 bt Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus) 7; Mikhail Antipov (Rus) 6.5 lost to Wei Yi (Chn) 8; Aravindh Chithambaram 7 drew Jorge Cori (Per) 7; Karen Grigoriya (Arm) 7 drew Bai Jinshi (Chn) 7; Diptayan Ghosh 7 drew Kamil Dragun (Pol) 7 ; Duda Jan Krzysztof (Pol) 7 bt Paulo Bersamina (Phi) 6; Indjic Aleksander (Srb) 7 bt Sayantan Das 6; S.L. Narayanan 6 lost to Ankit Rajpara 7; Christopher Repka (Svk) 6.5 drew M Karthikeyan 6.5 : Prasanna Rao 6 lost to Irakali Beradze (Geo) 7; Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 6.5 bt Linus Johansson (Swe) 5.5.

Girls: Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iri) 7 lost to Aleksandra Goryachikina (Rus) 8.5; Zhai Mo (Chn) 7 drew Daria Pustovoitova (Rus) 7; Ann Chumpitaz (Per) 7.5 bt Anna Iwanow (Pol) 6.5; Meri Arabidze (Geo) 6.5 drew Padmini Rout 7; P.V. Nandhidhaa 6.5 drew Irina Petrukhina (Rus) 6.5; Ioana Gelip (Rou) 6 lost to Srija Seshadri 7; Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (Vie) 6 drew Janelle Mae Frayna (Phi) 6 ; Pratyusha Bodda 5 lost to Sarvinoz Kurbonboeva (Uzb) 6 ; Supreeta Potluri A6 bt Tea Gucci (Ita).