Aarthie shocks Dana Reizniece

KOZHIKODE, AUG. 23. The Indian girls moved into the second half of the World junior chess championship in Athens with creditable scores against their names while none of the boys managed to remain among the front-runners, after P. Magesh Chandran's fine run was stopped by the 14th seed David Navara of the Czech Republic in the sixth round. Seven rounds remain to be played.

Aarthie Ramaswamy, the former World under-18 champion, surprised Dana Reizniece of Latvia, the 13th seed from Latvia. The Chennai girl, seeded 20th, is now tied with Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany, Tatiana Kosintseva of Russia and Sopiko Khukhashvili of Georgia. Russia's Nadezhda Kosinsteva, unbeaten so far, maintained her sole lead with 5.5 points, after drawing with Paehtz.

Koneru Hympy, the fifth seed from Vijayawada, drew her game with Inga Charkhalashvili of Georgia while in the battle of the two Tamil Nadu girls, 14-year-old M. Kasturi, the recently- crowned Asian junior champion, got the better of her more experienced rival, S. Meenakshi. The Madurai girl took her tally to an impressive four points, the same as Humpy. M.R. Venkatesh was beaten by a higher-rated Jan Markos of Slovakia while Tejas Bakre and K. Ratnakaran were pitted against weaker rivals and won their games against Laurent Guidareli of France and Fotios Margaritis of Greece respectively.

Sergei Azarov, the 23rd seed from Belarus who is proving to be a find of the tournament, continues to be the sole leader with 5.5 points, following his draw with the top seed Ni Hua of China.

Important results (sixth round:

Boys: Sergei Azarov (Blr) 5.5 drew with Ni Hua (Chn) 4.5; Evgeny Postny (Isr) 4 lost to Bu Xiangzhi (Chn) 5; Anton Korobov (Ukr) 4.5 drew with Gabriel Sargissian (Arm) 4.5; Merab Gagunashvili (Geo) 5 bt Emanuel Berg (Sew) 4; David Navara (Cze) 5 bt P. Magesh Chandran (Ind) 4; Levon Aronian 4.5 bt David Izoria (Geo) 3.5; Kamil Miton (Pol) 4 drew with Spyridon Kapnisis (Gre) 4; Michael Roiz (Isr) 4 drew with Artur Neiksans (Lat) 4; Bragi Thorfinnsson (Isl) 3 lost to Evgeny Shaposhnikov (Rus) 5; Igor Bitansky (Isr) 3 lost to Peter Acs (Hun) 4; M.R. Venkatesh (Ind) 3 lost to Jan Markos (Svk) 4; Pert Nicholas (Eng) 3.5 drew with Zhao Zong-Yuan (Aus) 3.5; Mika Karttunen (Fin) 3.5 Richard Palliser (Eng) 3.5; Laurent Guidarelli (Fra) 2.5 lost to Tejas Bakre (Ind) 3.5; K. Ratnakaran (Ind) 3 bt Fotios Margaritis (Gre) 2.

Girls: Elisabeth Paehtz (Ger) 4.5 drew with Nadezhda Kosintseva (Rus) 5.5; Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) 4 lost to Xu Yuanyuan (Chn) 5; Lilit Mkrtchian (Arm) 5 bt Gu Xiaobing (Chn) 4; Tatiana Kosintseva (Rus) 4.5 bt Darja Kaps (Slo) 3.5; Inga Charkhalashvili (Geo) 4 drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind) 4; Aarthie Ramaswamy (Ind) 4.5 bt Dana Reizniece (Lat) 3.5; Sopiko Khukhashvili (Geo) 4.5 bt Marisa Zuriel (Arg) 3.5; Sofya Zigangirova (Kaz) 3.5 drew with Iweta Radziewicz (Pol) 3.5; Elli Sperdokli (Gre) 3 lost to Jana Jackova (Cze) 4; Saira Sanchez Castillo (Ven) 3 lost to Ekaterina Ubiennykh (Rus) 4; Cristina Calotescu (Rom) 3.5 drew with Natalia Hryhorenko (Ukr) 3.5; M. Kasturi (Ind) 4 bt S. Meenakshi (Ind) 3.

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