Women's International Master Mary Ann Gomes assured herself of the girls' title in Asian Junior chess championship after a comfortable victory over Women's International Master N Kruthika with a round to spare on the eighth day of the tournament in Mumbai on Thursday.
Playing with white, Gomes, who already led by a point, beat Kruthika in 30 moves.
On the second board, P Priya played e4 to which Padmini Raut replied with Sicilian Defence. In the middle game, Priya got a pawn of Padmini, but in the endgame, she was not able to force the issue and had to be content with a draw in 60 moves.
In the boys' section, Ashwin Jayaram shocked top seed GM Parimarjan Negi to become the sole leader after eight rounds, with 6.5 points.
Ashwin adopted not-so-popular Guico Piano. The game was equal, but Parimarjan pushed hard, in which Ashwin took a slight advantage and won a pawn. In the Rook end game, he fought hard to win.
On the second board, the game between Vishnu Prasanna and Shyam Sunder ended in a draw after both started with Ruy Lopez.
On the third board, K Priyadarshan, playing with black pieces, replied with Nimzo Indian Defence. Both players agreed for draw in the Rook versus Bishop endgame after 58 moves.
Shyam Sunder, P Karthikeyan and Vishnu Prasanna are in second place with six points.
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