Aravindh, Hajra shine in Asian junior chess

Top seed Aravindh Chithamabram stopped the winning streak of S.L. Narayanan in the open section while West Bengal girl Chandreyee Hajra shocked overnight sole leader Nandhidhaa P.V. in the ongoing Asian Junior Chess Championship here on Sunday.

After the end of sixth round matches, Aravindh and Narayanan occupying the leaders board in open category with 5 points while Hajra have the company of top seed Vaishali, who defeated Bala Kannamma in the sixth round to take pole position in the girls’ section.

Playing white side of Sicilian defence, Aravindh displayed a solid tactical game to outwit his Indian counterpart in 55 moves. In girl’s top board, Nandhidhaa blundered in drawn position which provided upper hand to Hajra to secure full point from the sixth round outing.

In other important results in the sixth round, Grandmaster Karthikeyan Murali defeated Prananvanda while Iranian International Master duo of Mosadeghpour Masoud and Mousavi Seyed Khalil moved close to the leaders by registering victories over Ankit Gajwa and Chakravarthi Reddy, respectively.