
OROPESA DEL MOR SPAIN, NOV 1: Aarthie Ramaswamy led a good show by Indians in the seventh round of the World boys8217; and girls8217; age-group chess championship by emerging sole leader in the girls8217; under-18 category beating third seed Ana Matnadze of Georgia.
Under-10 Rahul Sangma jumped back into joint lead with three others after a win over Robin Swinkels of the Netherlands as nine Indians in the fray notched up wins in various categories while three others lost yesterday.
Defending champion Koneru Humpy girls8217; under-12, Pendyala Harikrishna boys8217; under-16, Y Pratibha girls8217; under-16, Sunil Rangarajan boys8217; under-12, M R Venkatesh boys8217; under-14, Soumya Swaminathan girls8217; under-10 and Shraddha Somani girls8217; under-14 all registered victories.
Aarthie 6.5 points opted for the Sozin Variation against her opponent8217;s Sicilian Defence and put pressure on the king8217;s side. After playing safe and letting go a chance to win a pawn in the middle game, she got her rook on the seventh rank to clinchthe issue.
Playing the French defence to his rival8217;s advanced variation, Rahul 6 equalised easily and capitalised on the Dutch boy8217;s blunder to win a pawn in the middle game and carve out an excellent victory.
Eesha Karvade equalised against Humpy8217;s English Opening. However, she lost a pawn in the middle game after some weak moves to give top seed Humpy full control of the game and eventual victory. Humpy 6 was placed joint second a point behind the leader.