Plotting her moves: Sachi Jain shocked third seed Beloslava Krasteva of Bulgaria.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The day began with a four-way tie and ended with another player joining the party. With just two rounds remaining, the World junior chess championship is heading for a close finish.
Daniel Quizon is the latest to join the band of leaders. The Philippines player beat Russian Artion Stribuk on the third board in the ninth round at the Gift City Club on Tuesday.
The four overnight leaders – Kazybek Nogerbek of Kazakhstan, Russia’s Rudik Makarian, Mamikon Gharibyan of Armenia, and Colombia’s Jose Gabriel Cardoso – were featured in the drawn games on the top two boards.
In the girls’ event, Divya Deshmukh continues to be in the sole lead. She took her tally to eight points after punishing compatriot Rakshitta Ravi for her weak moves in their 41-move French Defence game.
Mariam Mkrtchyan of Armenia is in second place with 7.5 points. Sachi Jain, who shocked third seed Beloslava Krasteva of Bulgaria, is third, on seven points.
Important results (ninth round): Open: Kazybek Nogerbek (Kaz) 7 drew with Rudik Makarian (FIDE) 7; Mamikon Gharibyan (Arm) 7 drew with Jose Gabriel Cardoso (Col) 7; Daniel Quizon (Phi) 7 bt Artion Stribuk (FIDE) 6; Pranav Anand 6 drew with Aleksey Grebnev (FIDE) 6.5; Emin Ohanyan (Arm) 6.5 bt Mayank Chakraborty 5.5; Luka Budisavljevic (Srb) 6.5 bt Santiago Avila (Col) 5.5; Ethan Vaz 6 drew with L.R. Srihari 6; Tobias Koelle (Ger) 6 drew with Pham Tran Gia Phuc (Vie) 6; Anuj Shrivatri 6 drew with Aditya Samant 6; Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (Can) 6 bt L.M.S.T. De Silva 5.5.
Girls: Rakshitta Ravi 6.5 lost to Divya Deshmukh 8; Mariam Mkrtchyan (Arm) 7.5 bt Sofia Hryzlova (Sui) 6; Sachi Jain 7 bt Beloslava Krasteva (Bul) 6; V. Rindhiya 6 lost to Ayan Allahverdiyeva (Aze) 6.5; Swara Lakshmi Nair 6 drew with Martyna Wikar (Pol) 6; Oshini Gunawardhana (SL) 6.5 bt Xeniya Balabayeva (Kaz) 5.5; Ksenia Norman (FIDE) 6.5 bt Ayalum Kaladorva (Kaz) 5.5; Anupam Sreekumar 5.5 lost to Narmin Abdinova (Aze) 6.5; Liya Kurmangaliyeva (Kaz) 5 lost to Shubhi Gupta 6.5; Kheerthi Ganta 5.5 drew with Anna Zhurova (FIDE) 5.5.