Grandmaster Pendyala Harikrishna surged ahead with a finely crafted victory over Kanep Meelis of Estonia in the eighth round of the World Junior chess championship now in progress in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan.
The other Indian hope, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, drew with higher rated Izoria Zviad of Georgia. The lead, however, changed hands between fellow Azerbaijanis as top seed Shakhriyaz Mamedyarov took his tally to six points after beating Kadir Guseinov in a long-drawn game.
Alexander Zubov of Ukraine, Kritz Leonid of Germany, Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan, Marcin Dziuba of Poland, Sergei Azarov of Belarus, Vitaly Bachin of Russia Zviad, Guseinov, Harikrishna and Ganguly share the second place.
Amongst the Indian boys, only Harikrishna managed to muster the full point as the championship got tougher.
P Magesh Chandran was involved in another draw while there was a similar result in store for national sub-junior champion S Arun Prasad and Asian Junior champion Deepan Chakravarthy.
G Rohit met his nemesis in Dimitros Mastrovasilis while Abhijit Gupta blundered away a clear better position and lost to Jatautis Donatas of Lithuania.
IWM Dronavalli Harika put in yet another spirited performance to beat compatriot Eesha Karvade and maintained her joint second spot behind top seed Nana Dzganidze of Georgia who tackled a stiff resistance by Tania Sachdev. The Georgian moved to a very impressive six points from as many games and she now looks unstoppable.
Harika shares the second spot along with Zeinab Mamedjarova of Azerbaijan on 4.5 points. A pack of three -- Cristina Calotescu of Romania, Zerha Topel of Turkey and Saheli Nath -- share the fourth spot on 4 points apiece while Tania and Eesha are in the next lot on 3.5 points.
Harikrishna proved why he is so feared in the endgame. Meelis did not know what hit him. Playing white, the Indian faced the Tarrasch defence. Having already played the opening quite a few times with black in his formative years, Hari knew that little bit more and emerged with a better position.
The middle game was fierce as the players ventured in to tactical complications. Hari dismantled blacks pawn structure on the queen side and this aided him in getting an extra pawn on the king side. Slow and steady manoeuvres ensued after the trade of queens and on the 59th move Hari delivered the knockout punch with a temporary rook sacrifice. The game lasted only seven more moves.
Ganguly had again not much to do with his solid Queens Gambit Accepted giving an easy half point with black pieces.
Zviad tried to break through blacks position on the queen side but routine manoeuvring of knights ensured Ganguly ample counter play against a slightly weakened isolated queen pawn. The draw was agreed to in 24 moves.
Harika escaped from an inferior position against Eesha and later turned the tables with her natural instinct for tactics. The opening was an irregular queen pawn where Eesha, black, got a favourable position right after the opening.
Harika hung in by keeping the position complex and was justly rewarded as Eesha left her knigtht unattended in the middle game. The extra piece was enough to yield another full point for Harika after 36 moves.
Tania Sachdev's over cautious play did not come in handy against Nana. Restoring faith in her newfound love for the queen pawn openings, Tania was up against a Queens Indian and felt the heat very early in the opening despite exchanging the pieces at regular intervals.
Nana brought a favourable endgame thereafter to clinch the issue after 65 moves. Saheli Nath defeated Martina Valickova in a keenly-contested game while Mahima Rajmohan accounted for Ezgi Yilmaz.
Important results (Indians unless specified):
BOYS' (Round 8): Kadir Guseinov (5.5, Aze) lost to Shakhriyaz Mamedyarov (6, Aze); Vugar Gashimov (5.5, Aze) drew Alexander Zubov (5.5, Ukr); Izoria Zviad (5.5, Geo) drew Surya Shekhar Ganguly (5.5); P Harikrishna (5.5) beat Kanep Meelis (4.5, Est); Sergei Azarov (5.5, Blr) beat Dmitry Schneider (4.5, USA); G Rohit (4) lost to Dimitros Mastrovasilis (4.5, Gre); Andrei Murariu (4, Rom) drew P Mahesh Chandran (4); Deepan Chakravarthy (4) drew Kozak Leonid (4, Uzb); S Arun Prasad (4) drew Steven Geinaert (3.5, Bel); Abhijit Gupta (3) Jatautis Donatas (4, Ltu).
GIRLS (Round 6): Tania Sachdev (3.5) lost to Nana Dzagnidze (6, Geo); Afag Khudaverdieva (3.5, Aze) lost to Zeinab Mamedjarova (4.5, Aze); D Harika (4.5) beat Eesha Karavade (3.5); Cristina Calotescu (4, Rom) beat Aytaj Ismailova (3.5, Aze); ZTur) beat Meihriban Shukurova (3, Aze); Saheli Nath (4) beat Martina Valickova (3, Aze); Ezgi Yilmaz (1, Tur) lost to Mahima Rajmohan (2.5).