World Youth Chess: Praggnanandhaa, Aryan share lead in U18
Indias R Praggnanandhaa eked out a hard-fought draw while Divya Deshmukh scored a smart victory to stay in the hunt in the World Youth Chess Championship here on Sunday.
GM Praggnanandhaa, playing black, had to be at his defensive best to thwart Iran's Aryan Gholami in the U18 Open to share the lead with 5 points after Round 6.
In a highly anticipated clash, IM Aryan seemed to have a slight edge as he battled for that crucial point.
But GM Praggnanandhaa manoeuvred his pieces smartly to share the spoils after 39 moves.
The country's other GM, P Iniyan, desperately tried to make the most of his white but was effectively stonewalled by Germany's Valentin Buckels.
After 50 moves, they decided to end their agony by splitting the point.
Both are second on the leader-board, trailing by half a point each.
WIM Divya got the better of Liya Kurmangaliyeva of Kazakhstan in the Under 14 Girls to take her tally to 4.5 points to be just half a point behind India's Rakshitta Ravi, ...