Indian players, erstwhile leaders in their respective age groups, were being overtaken by players from other countries in the homestretch of the Asian Youth Chess Championship at the Al Ain Convention Center in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. In photo above, Arbiters in the tournament gather for posterity.
Indians continued to lead the girls under-8 category after 7 rounds. Setting the pace at 1st and second are Indians Parihar Kiyana at 6.5 points and A. S. Sharvaanica with 6 points. Angelina Vlad Ambartsumyan of Russia is in third slot with 5.5 points.
In the girls under-10, Kristina Zavivaeva of Russia is far away with a perfect 7 points followed by compatriot Victorial Makhina and Indian Ranganath Aadya.
China’s Gao Muziyan also leads with perfect 7 points in the Girls under-12 followed by B. Kirthika of India, Mariya Kholyavko of Kazakhstan and Polina Smirnova of Russia at 5.5 points each.
Russian Leilo Tabermakova leads the Girls under-14 with 6 points followed by WCM Alserkal Rouda Essa of the UAE and Uliana Dudkina of Russia at 5.5 points each.
WFM Ganta Kheerthi of India and FM Yana Zhapova of Russia share the lead with 6 points each in the Girls under-16 category. WFM Valeria Kleymenova of Russia and WCM Chloe Fan of Australia follow with 5.5 points each.
Laysa Latifah of Indonesia leads alone with 6 points in the Girls under-18 followed by G. Tejaswini of India at 5.5 points and Russian Zhanna Lesnykh, Iranian Parnian Ghomi and Vietnamese Nguyen Thien Ngan with 5 points apiece.
Asian Chess Federation Secretary Hisham Al Taher (right) on an inspection walk around the tournament hall.
In the boys under-8, Vietnamese Le Phan Hoang Quan is alone in the lead with 6.5 points followed by Kapoil Aarit of India and Nguyen Xuan Phuong of Vietnam with 6 points each.
Mazen Fandi of Syria and Ramtin Kakavand of Iran are tied for the lead in the boys under-10 with 6 points each followed by a 4-way tie with 5.5 points each among Dmitry Al Novodvoskiy and Areseny Kleschevnikof of Russia, Alimzhan Zhauynbay of Kazakhstan and Talab Rami of Syria.
Mark Smirnov and Elsultan Kaliakhmet of Kazakhstan share the lead with 6 points each in the boys under-12 followed by a 3-way tie for third slot with 5.5 points among Chen Zimu and Jiang Haochen of China and Tamaz Temirbekov of Russia.
Aleksey Prokhorov of Russia leads the under-14 with 6 points. Tied for second slot are FM Edgar Mamedov ov Kazakhstan andRagavesh Velavaa of India at 5.5 points each.
IM Erdem Khubukshanov of Russia leads the boys under-16 with 6 points followed by FM Suresh Harsh of India at 5.5 points. Eight players are tied for third slot at 5 points each.
IM L.M.S.T. Des Silva of Sri Lanka continues to lead the under-18 category with 6 points followed by Zhang Di of China at 5.5 points and FM Satbek Akhmedinov of Kazakhstan at 5 points.
