MUMBAI, Dec 2: Top Seed Tejas Bakre, with an Elo rating of 2355, drew another game but remains in lead with 6.5 points of the end of nine rounds in the Sahara Asian Sub-Junior chess championships at the Avion Hotel.

Bakre could be sole leader if the second board game between Anton Paulo Del Mundo of Phillipines (5.5) and Lim Yee Weng of Malaysia (5) ends in a draw. But there are at least six players, including four Indians, who are with 5.5 points.

In the girls' section, Aarthie Ramaswamy, who won the title yesterday itself, made it nine out of nine when she defeated Manasi Dadarkar. Le Kieu Thien Kim of Vietnam and JB Kavita finished behind her with 7.5 and seven points respectively.

Bakre's opponent, Ibrokhim Khamrakulov of Uzbekistan, played the Sicilian defence and delayed the casteling as is his wont. But Bakre did not take advantage and adopted a wrong strategy. They agreed to split points after 32 moves.

On the third board, Satyapragyan adopted the Petroff defence against S Kidambis. They agreed on a draw after 32 moves. Both the players are on 5.5 points.

P Mahesh Chandran, who suffered defeats in the two previous rounds, bounced back into contention with a 33-move win on time over Askarov Bachtyar of Kazakhstan. Mahesh (5.5) was nevertheless in better position.

The fourth Indian on 5.5 points, Prathamesh Mokal, defeated Ghaem Maghaml Ehsan of Iran.

Boys' results (round 9): Tejas Bakre (India, 6.5) drew with Khamrakulov Ibrokhim (Uzbekistan, 5.5); S Kidambi (India, 5.5) drew with S Satyapragyan (India, 5.5); Yulianto Erwin (Indonesia, 5.5) beat Valay Parikh (India, 4.5); Askarov Bachtyar (Kazakhstan, 4.5) lost to P Mahesh Chandran (India, 5.5); Prathamesh Mokal (India, 5.5) beat Ghaemi Maghami Ehsan (Iran, 4); Wong Zi Jing (Malaysia, 5) beat Shoven Shah (India, 3); Gareth Charles (Australia, 3.5) beat Vo Minh Hoang (Vietnam, 4); Nikita Jesterenko (Kazakhstan, 1.5) lost to Surya Sekhar Ganguly (India, 4.5); Subir Goradia (India, 3) lost to Batzorig Tuvshintugs (Mongolia, 4).

Girls (round 9, final round): Lennova Maija (Kazakhstan, 1) lost to JE Kavitha (India, 7); Le Kieu Thien Kim (Vietnam, 7.5) beat Yogita Yevle (India, 1); Manasi Dadarkar (India, 3.5) lost to Aarthie Ramaswamy (India, 9); Kavana M (India, 3) drew with Shraddha Samani (India, 3); Yusubalieva Sevara (Uzbekistan, 5.5) beat Samantha Lee Heng Jun (Malaysia, 5).Final positions for girls (first five figure in prize list): 1 Aarthie Ramaswamy 9 pts (Rs 12,000), 2 Le Kieu Thien Kim 7.5 (Rs 8,000), 3 JE Kavitha 7 (Rs 6,000), 4 Yusubalieva Sevara 5.5 (Rs 5,000), 5 Samantha Lee Heng Jun 5 (Rs 4,000)

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.