Shyam Sundar to take on Vietnamese GM in Asian Junior final

New Delhi, Nov 13 (UNI) Joint leaders M Shyam Sundar of India and Grandmaster Nguyen Ngoc Truongson of Vietnam will take on each other in the title clash for the Asian Junior chess championship here tomorrow.

With just one round remaining in the championship both Sundar and Truongson have 6.5 points from eight rounds and will have a showdown for the title in the final round.

In the penultimate round Truongson played some decisive chess against S P Sethuraman in what eventually turned out to be a one sided affair. Shyam Sundar, meanwhile, took off from where he had left after the seventh round when he beat second seed Abhijeet Gupta and easily accounted for M R Lalith Babu who played with white pieces.

The third place is jointly held by G N Gopal and Ashwin Jayaram with six points apiece while a pack of five players are close behind on 5.5 points.

It turned out to be another twist in the tale in the girls' section being organised simultaneously as overnight leader Kiran Manisha Mohanty was comprehensively beaten by P Lakshmi Sahiti. With top seed Hoang Thi Bao Tram of Vietnam succumbing to another defeat in the event, this time at the hands of little known R Preethi, the Indian domination in this section is a foregone conclusion.

As things stand Sahiti is now sharing the lead with country's number two ranked played Mary Ann Gomes and they will clash to determine the winner in the final round. With both leaders on 6.5 points, Preethi and Kiran are next in line on six points each while Amruta Mokal stands alone in the 5.5 points bracket.

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