Chennai, June 16 (IANS) PV Nandhidhaa and Cholleti Sahajasri delivered upset victories even as 13 boys, including 12 Indians, and eight girls, six of them from the home country, shared the lead with two points apiece on conclusion of second round of matches in the Asian Junior Chess Championships, here Wednesday.
Nandhidhaa outwitted second seed and Candidate Master Bhakti Kulkarni with the Black pieces in 33 moves while Sahajasri scored over WFM Hejazipour Mitra of Iran.
In another match, India’s Pratyusha Bodda defeated compatriot WFM Pon N Krithika, while Mohanapriya forced a notable draw with top seed and defending champion WIM Padmini Rout in a Grunfeld defence.
The Open category witnessed no surprised as Adhiban beat Arun Karthik in 79 moves, defending champion Ashwin Jayaram overcame G.V. Saikrishna and CRG Krishna defeated higher rated rival Iranian Darini Pouria.
Among the leaders were FM Akkozov Berik of Kazakhstan (boys) and WFM Tay Li Jin Jeslin of Singapore and Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnam (girls).
