Delhi boy Parimarjan Negi suffered a setback, losing to Tornike Sanikidze of Georgia, as other Indian players also disappointed in the sixth round of the World Junior chess championships in Istanbul on Tuesday.
On a bad day for the Indian contingent, the prospects of Woman Grandmasters Tania Sachdev and D Harika also took a blow as they went down to Beata Kadziolka of Poland and Turkan Mamedjarova of Azerbaijan respectively in the girls' section.
WGM Gu Xiaobing of China maintained sole lead among the girls after settling for a draw with International Master Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany.
The draw took Xiaobing to an impressive 5.5 points out of a possible 6 while Kadziolka and Mamedjarova trail with 5 points each.
The loss proved costly for Tania as she remained on 4 points while Harika has 3.5 points in her bag.
In the boys' section, top seed and hot favourite Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan gave another impression of his class by outclassing Grandmaster-to-be Erwin L'ami of the Netherlands.
The Azerbaijani also moved to 5.5 points and is now a full point ahead of his nearest rivals.
Apart from Negi, Deep Sengupta was also beaten by GM Tomi Nyback of Finland, Andrey Kvon of Uzbekistan proved stronger than G Rohit while Russian Vasily Papin scored over Akshat Khamparia as most Indian players struggled with only lower places players coming out with victories.
Eesha Karavade settled for a draw with compatriot Kruttika Nadig while N Raghavi won against Karolina Ortiz Nadya of Columbia in the girls' section while G N Gopal and IM S Poobesh Anand won against Nurdin Samakov of Kyrgyzstan and Oliver Kurmann of Switzerland respectively among the boys.
Negi needed a victory to become an International Master but could not quite get the balance he was looking for. The 12-year-old played Grunfeld defense as black but was outplayed due to lack of experience. Now he needs victory in the next round, which will earn him more than seven points, his current requirement for the coveted title.
Tania, playing the white side of a Dutch defense, failed to find her rhythm right from the opening and lost in a tense middle game against Kadziolka.
Important and Indian Results Round 6:
Boys: (Indians unless specified): Erwin L'ami (Ned, 4) lost to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 5.5); Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Pol, 4.5) drew with GM Smeets Jan (Ned, 4.5); Evgeny Romanov (Rus, 4.5) drew with Alexander Kharitonov (Rus, 4.5); Evgeny Alekseev (Rus, 4.5) beat Igor Kurnosov (Rus, 3.5); Vugar Gashimov (Aze, 4.5) beat Wei Chenpeng (Chn, 3.5); Bartel Mateusz (Pol, 4.5) beat Ferenc Berkes (Hun, 3.5); Wang Yue (Chn, 4.5) beat Nidjat Mamedov (Aze, 3.5); Levon Babujian (Arm, 4) drew with Daniel Stellwagen (Ned, 4); Borki Predojevic (Bih, 4) drew with Wang Hao (Chn, 4); Bartlomiej Heberla (Pol, 4) drew with Ildar Khairullin (Rus, 4); Tomi Nyback (Fin, 4) beat Deep Sengupta (Ind, 3); Sanikidze Tornike (Geo, 4) beat Parimarjan Negi (Ind, 3); Andrey Kvon (Uzb, 3.5) beat G Rohit (2.5); Oliver Kurmann (Sui, 2.5) lost to S Poobesh Anand (3.5); Vasily Papin (Rus, 3) beat Akshat Khamparia (2); Nurdin Samakov (Kgz, 2) lost to G N Gopal (3).
Girls: Elisabeth Paehtz (Ger, 4.5) drew with Gu Xiaobing (Chn, 5.5); Tania Sachdev (4) lost to Beata Kadziolka (Pol, 5); D Harika (3.5) lost to Turkan Mamedjarova (Aze, 5); Alina Motoc (Rom, 3.5) lost to Nana Dzagnidze (Geo, 4.5); Anna Ushenina (Ukr, 4.5) beat Liu Pei (Chn, 3.5); Andriasian Siranush (Arm, 3.5) lost to Natalija Pogonina (Rus, 4.5); Irina Vasilevich (Rus, 4) drew with Bela Khotenashvili (Geo, 4); Dana Aketaeva (Kaz, 4.5) beat Melia Salome (Geo, 3.5); Vera Nebolsina (Rus, 3.5) drew with Mongontuul Bathuyag (Mgl, 3.5); Karina Szczepkowska (Pol, 3.5) drew with Jolanta Zawadzka (Pol, 3.5); Atousa Pourkashiyan (Iri, 3.5) drew with Marina Guseva (Rus, 3.5); Eesha Karavade (3.5) drew with Kruttika Nadig (3.5); Karolina Ortiz Nadya (Col, 2) lost to Raghavi N (3).
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