National Under-9 Champion Sahaj Grover, Y Sandeep, V A V Rajesh and N Srinath continued their excellent run with smashing victories to top their respective groups in the fourth round of the World Youth Chess championships in Belfort, France.
Sahaj, with his fourth victory on the trot jumped in to a two-way lead in the under-10 boys section, Sandeep leads the Under-14 section and Rajesh and Srinath are also among the toppers in the under-12 boys section registering four wins each.
On a relatively better day for Indians, two pre-tournament favourites Indians International Master candidate Parimarjan Negi in the under-12 section and Woman Grandmaster D Harika in the Under-14 girls section came back strongly to beat Jon Aplin Christer and Pauline Van Nies respectively.
With the victory, Parimarjan moved to 3 points out of a possible 4 while Harika took her tally to 3.5 points.
Still seven rounds remain in ten different World Championships organised here simultaneously from under-10 to under-18 age groups for boys and girls.
Sahaj was in his element in cruising past Irakli Beradze from the white side of a Caro Kann defense. The Delhi-based did not have to do much as his opponent blundered a piece early in the opening and the remaining technicalities did not bother the Dubai Junior under-10 champion and he checkmated his opponent in 54 moves.
Sandeep defeated Robert Huss in a finely crafted game from the white side of an irregular opening.
© 2024 Rediff.com -