Woman Fide Master Bhakti Kulkarni crushed Rucha Pujari with black pieces, stopping her winning streak in the 26th Junior(U-19) Girls' Chess and 41st National Junior(U-19) Open Championship 2011, played at Indoor Sports Hall, Fatorda, on Saturday.
Indian Grandmasters Vidit Gujarathi and Sahaj Grover maintained a clean slate, defeating Tomas Laurusas of Lithuania and Vyacheslav Lozhnikov of Kazakhstan respectively in the second round of the World Junior Chess Championship in Kocaeli, Turkey.
Grandmaster Sahaj Grover failed to capitalise on his chances and played out a draw with Iranian Pouya Idani, while Vidit Gujrathi defeated Polish Marcel Kanarek to be jointly third after the eighth round of the World Junior Chess Championship in Kocaeli, Turkey.
Padmini Rout's unbeaten run was halted by top seed Aleksandra Goryachkina in the eighth round of the LIC World Junior Chess Championships, at the Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Tuesday. After a day's rest, the girls' section was dominated by the higher-rated Russians in the fray, with Daria Pustovoitova defeating Anna Iwanow of Poland. Both the Russian girls and Anna Iwanow of Peru jointly lead the girls' section in the 77-player event with 6.5 points each.
Lesser-known Indian players continued to impress, while the fancied struggled to score, even as overseas Grandmasters took charge in the third round of the World Junior Chess Championships, being played at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Wednesday. S L Narayanan was one of the early finishers, holding second seed and super GM Robin Van Kampen (2641) to a draw, while 10-year-old Nihal Sarin's impressive display again won him many admirers after he held Balazs CSonka (2409) to a draw to remain unbeaten after three encounters against opponents rated higher than 2400.
Former Under-14 world champion and Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi won the bronze medal in the World Junior Chess Championship after settling for a quick draw with winner Yu Yangyi of China in the 13th and final round that concluded in Kocaeli, Turkey.
Indian Grandmaster S P Sethuraman came back into the reckoning for top honours after defeating Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland in the seventh round of the World Junior Chess Championship in Kocaeli.
Riding on three back-to-back victories, Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta emerged as the best performing Indian as he finished seventh in the Al Ain Classic International chess tournament that concluded in Al Ain (UAE) on Saturday.
China's Lu Shanglei and Wei Yi emphatically exhibited their rising chess prowess with convincing victories over Russians Vladimir Fedoseev, the top seed, and Mikhail Antipov, in the 10th round of the World Junior Chess Championships at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Thursday. The victories ensured that the Chinese maintained joint-leader status with eight points each.
Lu Shanglei of China defeated Aleksander Indjic of Serbia and was crowned World junior chess champion at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Sunday. In the girls' section, 16-year-old Alexandra Goryachkina successfully defended her title with a round to spare on Saturday.