JAIPUR, Oct 5: Abhijit Kunte is assured of the boys' title in the Asian Junior Chess Championships after he defeated Saidov Begali of Uzbekistan for a tally of 8.5 points from nine rounds at the Jai Mahal Palace Hotel today.

Kunte's victory was confirmed when the second-board battle between second-placed Chinese Yu Shaoteng (8) and Iranian Amir Bageri ended in a draw, giving the Indian a 2-point lead. Even if Kunte loses his next two rounds, he will win the title on better progressive scores. But to earn the GM norm, Kunte will have to claim just another draw from the remaining two rounds.

In the girls' section, the leader, Chinese Li Roufan (8), won a protracted battle against Nisha Mohota to keep her half-point lead over Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman. Roufan has to win the remaining two rounds to triumph and more importantly, win the International Woman Master's title.

With an IWM norm for those finishing among the top three, Nivedita Sagada enhances her chances of earning one when she triumphed today against Alexandra Samaganova of Kyrgistan. Nivedita is placed third with 5.5 points and should meet Oxana Maximenko (Kazakhastan) tomorrow.pThe other Indian boys had a mixed day. Neelotpal Das won and shares the sixth position with Saidov while Manthan Choksi (4) and RR Lakshman (3.5) lost. Choksi and Lakshman are in the seventh and eighth positions respectively.pNisha adopted the Slav defence against Roufan and initiated a queen-side attack with her rooks, a knight, bishop and queen on the queen-side. Roufan came under time pressure when she had to make 16 moves in four minutes but she came out of it with some accurate moves, neutralising Nisha's minor advantage. In the last positions, both had a rook, knight and five pawns but Roufan's smart play in end-game converted the position into a win after 69 moves.

Vijayalakshmi, who played the English opening, gained the advantage right from the onset. ``Aigul played badly in the opening and in the middle game. I was winning a piece, she should have resigned, but she prolonged the battle for another half an hour,'' Vijalakshmi said.

Nivedita won in time and position against Oxana Maximenko. Oxana had one more move to make when the flag fell. She was also losing a piece and that made her position hopeless.

Kunte expressed happiness and locked a lot relieved after his victory today. ``Today it was very easy. But I need another half-a-point as the GM norm is more important than the title,'' he said.

Kunte faced Saidov's Ruy Lopez and the Uzbekistan player's Nh5, which was not normal. As a result, Saidov had double pawns on the c and f files with the facing pressure. Saidov tried to save the pawn with some tactical play and ended moving his queen to c2 where it was trapped. He sacrifice a bishop but still could not wriggle out of the tight position and gave up after 31 moves.

Results (9th round):

Abhijit Kunte (India) bt Begali Saidov (Uzbekistan), Amir Bagheri (Iran) drew with Yu Shaoteng (China), Mas Hafizulhelmi (Malaysia) bt Manthan Choksi (India), Ernesto Inarkiev (Kyrgistan) lost to Pham Minh Hoang (Vietnam), Milan Turpanov (Kyrgistan) bt RR Lakshman (India), Ten Viktor (Kazekhastan) bt Brett Tindall (Australia), Saud Mohammed (UAE) lost to Dewan Shahidul Amin (Bangladesh), Neelotpal Das (India) bt Manjula Jayasinghe (Sri Lanka), Elwin Retenal (Philippines) drew with Yuki Tanaka (Japan).

Girls: Li Roufan (China) bt Nisha Mohota (India), vijayalakshmi Subbaraman (India) bt Aigul Baisalova (Kazakhastan), Sherrie Joy Lomibao (Philippines) lost to Uvshintoge Bataceceg (Mongolia), Hoang My hu Giang (Vietnam) bt Oxana Maximenko (Kazakhstan), Nivedita Sagada (India) bt Alexandra Samaganova (Kyrgistan), Mona Salman Mahini (Iran) lost to Lee Heng Jun (Malaysia), Chandra Rathnayake (Sri Lanka) lost to Irina Gorshkova (Uzbekistan).

Positions (boys): 1 Kunte 8.5 points; 2 Shaoteng, Mas 6.5; 3 Pham 6; 4 Bagheri 5.6; 5 Turpanov 5; 6 Saidov, Neelotpal 4.5; 7 Inarkiev, Saud, Choksi, Tindall, Retenal, Viktor 4; 8 Lakshman 3.5; 9 Dewan 2.5; 10 Jayashinghe, Tanaka2.

Girls: 1 Roufan 8; 2 Vijayalakshmi 7.5; 3 Nivedita, Bataceceg 5.5; 4 Sherrie Joy 5; 5 Baisalova, Maximenko, Lee Heng, Gorshkova, 4.5; 6 Hoang 4; 7 Mohota 3.5; 8 Salman 2.5; 9 Samaganova 2; 10 Rathyanake 1.5.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.