Gopal in joint lead after third round in Asian junior chess

New Delhi, Nov 9 (UNI) Former National Junior champion G N Gopal continued his winning spree and outwitted Khamrakulov Dzhurabek of Uzbekistan to remain in joint lead, along with compatriots S Nitin and MR Lalithbabu, after third round of the Asian Junior Chess Championship here today.

The Indian trio, after recording their third straight win, share the top slot with three points apiece.

Top seeded Grandmaster Nguyen Ngoc Truongson of Vietnam is now trailing the three leaders by a half point along with seven others.

In a major upset of the day, GM norm holder and second seed Abhijeet Gupta had to pay dearly for an oversight as B Adhiban won a piece in quick time to stun his rival.

In the girls' championship, International Woman Master Kruttika Nadig defeated compatriot P Lakshmi Sahiti to remain in joint lead with threee points, along side Amruta Mokal and Kiran Manisha Mohanty.

In the third round game Amruta displayed top form and outwitted Saheli Nath while Kiran proved a notch above Nadiya Tashimova of Kazakhstan.

Top seed Woman Grandmaster Hoang Thi Bao Tram of Vietnam is in joint fourth place here in the company of National Junior Girls champion Soumya Swaminathan and P Priya -- all having 2.5 points each.

UNI AY SAM ND1652