Gandhinagar, Jun 12 (PTI) International Master and top seed Divya Deshmukh maintained a slender half-point lead while outclassing compatriot Sachi Jain in the 10th and penultimate round of the World Junior Girls' chess championship, here on Wednesday.

On a day when the Indian challenge almost ended in the open section, Divya ensured a podium finish in the girls' section with attacking play against a lower-ranked Sachi.

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With nine points from 10 games so far, Divya remained in front with half a point against Mariam Mkrtchiyan of Armenia, who defeated Sri Lankan talent Oshini Gunawardhana Devindya.

Meanwhile, the second highest ranked Indian GM Rakshitta Ravi kept her chances alive of winning a medal at the expense of Narmin Abdinova of Azerbaijan.

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Rakshitta is joint-third with 7.5 points along with Ayan Allahverdiyeva of Azerbaijan.

Divya was the star of the show yet again as she scored a near-flawless victory over Sachi.

Playing the white side of Queen's gambit, Divya Tok an early upper hand in the middle game with better organised pieces.

Launching a king side attack soon, a small tactical skirmish ensued as Divya took her rooks to the seventh rank and Sachi was left defenceless.

The game lasted a mere 26 moves, justifying Divya's supremacy.

In the final round, Divya will take on Bulgaria's Krasteva Beloslava while Mkrtchiyan will face-off against Rakshitta.

In the open section, Armenia's Mamikon Gharabyan shot into sole lead after defeating Rudik Makarian of Russia on the top board.

On eight points, Makarian is followed by Daniel Quizon of Philippines, Nogerbek Kazybek of Kazakhstan, Emin Ohanyan of Armenia and Luka Budisavljevic of Serbia.

Aditya Samant is the highest ranked Indian in this section on seven points, while top rated local hopeful Pranav Anand could only inch himself up to 6.5 following another draw.

Top results round 10 open (Indians unless specified): Rudik Makarian (Fid, 7) lost to Mamikon Gharibyan (Arm, 8); Daniel Quizon (Phi, 7.5) drew with Nogerbek Kazybek (Kaz, 7.5); Jose Gabriel Cardoso Cardoso (Col, 7) lost to Emin Ohanyan (Arm, 7.5); Aleksey Grebnev (Fid, 6.5) lost to Luka Budisavljevic (Srb, 7.5); Artiom Stribuk (Fid, 6.5) drew with Pranav Anand (6.5); Ozenir Ekin Baris (Tur, 7) beat Siddharth Jagadeesh (Sgp, 6); Prraneeth Vuppala (6) lost to Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (Can, 7); Davtyan Arsen (Arm, 6.5) drew with L R Srihari (6.5); Bodrogi Bendeguz (Hun, 6) lost to Tobias Koelle (Ger, 7); Aditya Samant (7) beat Ethan Vaz (6); A R Ilamparthi (6) lost to Anuj Shrivatri (7); Pham Tran Gia Phuc (Vie, 6.5) drew with Manish Anto Cristiano (6.5) Tarun Kanyamarala (Irl, 6) lost to L Srihari (6.5); Dudin Gleb (Hun, 6) drew with Shahil Dey (6); Avila Pavas Santiago (Col, 6.5) beat S Harshad (5.5).

Girls: Divya Deshmukh (9) beat Sachi Jain (7); Oshini Gunawardhana Devindya (Sri, 6.5) lost to Mariam Mkrtchyan (Arm, 8.5); Abdinova Narmin (Aze, 6.5) lost to Rakshitta Ravi (7.5); Shubhi Gupta (7) drew with Norman Kseniya (Fid, 7); Ayan Allahverdiyeva (Aze, 7.5) beat Swara Lakshmi S Nair (6); Krasteva Beloslava (Bul, 7) beat Sannidhi Ramakrishna Bhat (6): Martyna Wikar (Pol, 7) beat Sneha Halder (6); Sofia Hryzlova (Sui, 6.5) drew with V Rindhiya (6.5); Balabayeva Xeniya (Kaz, 6.5) beat Kheerthi Ganta (5.50 Anna Zhurova (Fid, 6.5) beat Arshiya Das (5.5); Trisha Kanyamarala (Irl, 6) drew with Anupam M Sreekumar (6); Marium Fatima (5.5) lost to G Tejaswini (6.5); Shanmathi Sree (5.5) lost to Mrudul Dehankar (6.5); Lucia Striskova (Svk, 5.5) lost to Bristy Mukherjee (6.5); Anastasia Kirtadze (Geo, 5) lost to Ishvi Aggarwal (6); Kriti Mayur Patel (5) lost to Sulyok Eszter (Hun, 6).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)