Four Indians in sole lead

Chennai, Oct 25 (UNI) India continued to dominate the World Youth Chess Championship, emerging as the sole leader at the end of seventh round at Batumi in Georgia, today.

All India Chess Federation release said N Srinath of Sun Group who was defending his World Under-12 title was in joint lead.

Girish Koushik of Mysore stretched his lead in the World Under-10 championship to 1.5 points after he scored his seventh victory.

Ch Mohineesh of Visakhapatnam maintained his one point lead in the World Under-8 section with a clean seven out of seven score.

Ivana Furtado of Goa moved from joint lead to sole lead in the girls Under-8 section. Dronavalli Harika of Guntur was leading the girls Under-18 section by a slender half a point. She could become the second Indian to win that section after Aarthie Ramaswamy in 1999.

In the girls Under-18, second seed Dronavalli Harika of Guntur maintained her half point lead with a draw against Bela Khotenasvili of Georgia in the seventh round. Harika was on 6 points from seven games and would face the top seed Diana Arutyunova (4.5) of Ukraine in the eighth round.

Meanwhile, Mary Ann Gomes of Kolkata also played a draw and kept the second place with 5.5 points.

In the girls Under-16 India's I Ramya Krishna and Dhyani Dave were on four points from seven rounds and tied for the 15th place.

Gulnar Mammodova of Azerbaijan leaded with 6/7. While Ramya Krishna and Uthra (3.5) figured in drawn games, Dave won.

In the girls Under-14 three Indians - Bhakti Kulkarni, Lakshmi Sahithi and Pon N Krithikha were sharing the sixth place with 4.5 points. Bhakti lost on 4.5 while other two players won to reach 4.5.

In girls Under-12 top seed and Asian Under-12 champion Padmini Rout of Orissa suffered a mild setback when she was held to a draw by Triin Narva of Estonia. Padmini was left on 5 points where she was tied for the fourth place.

In girls Under-10, National under-9 champion and seed No 3 Ch Sahajasri and seed No 2 Sai Nirupama were tied for the third to seventh places on 5.5 points after they posted seventh round wins.

In girls Under-8, ninth seed Ivana Furtado of Goa shot into sole lead with six points from seven games. She beat fifth seed Elena Bulmaga of Moldova with the black pieces. In second to fourth places there were two more Indians, M Mahalakshmi and Mannepalli Navyavyshnavi with 5.5 points.

UNI GV GKT DH ND1848