International Master P Magesh Chandran and Y Prathiba maintained their lead with contrasting victories in the eighth round of the 26th Asian Junior chess championships in Negombo, Sri Lanka, on Thursday.
Magesh accounted for an over-ambitious Deepan Chakravarthy in an absorbing contest and maintained the sole lead he took yesterday after beating G Rohit.
With 6.5 points in his kitty, Magesh will need to hold his nerves in the last three rounds.
Half a point adrift of the leader are Abhijit Gupta, Prathmesh Mokal and S Poobesh Anand and it now looks a near certainty that Indian contingent is going to rule the roost.
Y Prathiba of Chennai stayed on course for the women's title with a hard-fought endgame victory over J Rajasurya. Following Prathiba in the second spot is Saheli Nath at 6.0 points, and Mary Ann Gomes, Kruttika Nadig and J E Ktha at 5.5 points.
Defending champion women's International Master Tania Sachdev's fortune's took a nosedive as she went down to Kavitha. In a Sicilian Paulsen game, Kavitha went for the initiative from the word go and for once the defensive technique of the Delhi girl let her down.
Tania's defeat places her on the fourth spot at 5.0 points.
It was a Ruy Lopez Chigorin game that gave Magesh a very important victory. Going by theory until the 20th turn, Deepan went for an all out attack on the black king, thereby exposing his own kingside in firing line.
Defending accurately, Magesh led a counter attack that found Deepan wanting. In desperation Deepan sacrificed a piece, which Magesh hung on to, making the most of the occasion and clinching the issue in 41 moves.
In a Sicilian Sveshnikov game, Prathiba was on the defensive initially. However, going into the equal endgame, she showed her prowess outwitting the Asian under-14 girls' champion Rajasurya in a rook and opposite colour bishop ending. The marathon game lasted 67 moves.
IM-norm holder S Poobesh Anand gave Pune lad Akshayraj Kore his first defeat of the tournament, moving to the second spot with 6.0 points. Poobesh tackled the youngster's Dutch defence with fine tactical play winning the game in 58 moves.
In an crucial encounter that will have a say in final standings, Poobesh meets FM Abhijit Gupta tomorrow.
WIM and top seed Harika drew both her games against Indians Mahima Rajmohan and N Vinuthna and remained in 4.0 points.
Important Round 8 Results (Indians unless specified):
Boys: Deepan Chakkravarthy (5) lost to P Magesh Chandran (6.5); Abhijit Gupta (6) beat Deep Sengupta (5); Khamzim Olzhas (5, Kaz) lost to Prathamesh Mokal (6); S Poobesh Anand (6) beat Akshayraj Kore (5); S Arun Prasad (5.5) beat Hoang Canh Huan (4.5, Vie); Akbarnia Syed Arash (4, Iri) lost to Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (5, Vie); G Rohit (5) beat Chandrasiri Thilina (4, SL); D D Wijesinghe (3.5, SL) lost to D Priyadarshana (4.5, SL); I T Palawatta (4, SL) drew D R N K B Dehigama (4, SL); Himanshu Kumar (3) lost to P Goonewardene (4, SL).
Girls: Y Prathiba (7) beat J Rajasurya (5); J E Kavitha (5.5) beat Tania Sachdev (5); Luong Phong Hanh (4.5, Vie) lost to Saheli Nath (6); H Nilavoli (4.5) lost to Krutika Nadig (5.5); Mary Ann Gomes (5.5) beat Kathryn Ann Cruz (4, Phi); Yasoda U G Methmali (4, SL) lost to Mahima Rajmohan (5); Dronavalli Harika (4) drew N Vinuthna (4.5); Konara Harshani (4.5, SL) beat Thilini Nisansala (3.5, SL).