Divya Deshmukh in joint lead at World Cadets Chess 2017

By T. J. Suresh Kumar

India faced another day of misfortune as the top players lost their games on Monday to fall out in the race for the world title at the end of the eighth round in the world cadets chess championships being held at Pocos de Caldas in Brazil.

The lone bright spot is the successful run of Divya Deshmukh (seven points) in the U-12 girls section. Divya won both her seventh and eighth round games to stay in joint lead with A. Matus Nastassja of the United States.

Meanwhile, H. Bharath Subramaniyam and Dev Shah (U-10 open), Rakshitta Ravi (U-12 girls), Shivika Rohilla (U-10 girls), and A. R. Ilamparthi (U-8 open), dropped crucial points in the seventh and eighth round games. However, another set of promising players in S. Rohith Krishna (U-12 open), Shahil Dey (U-10 open), Daaevik Wadhawan (U-8 open), and Sneha Halder (U-8 girls) have moved up to six points.

In the U-12 open section, S. Rohith Krishna is the highest ranked Indian with six points. He has moved up to the joint fourth position with a win over Kolay Alex of the United States in the eighth round. M. Pranesh is behind him with five points.

In the U-10 open category, Shahil Dey has moved to the joint third position with a win over Dang Anh Minh of Vietnam in the eighth round. Dev Shah, who was in the joint second second position after the sixth round, lost both his games on Monday. He stays at five points. Similarly, top-seeded H. Bharath Subramaniyam also lost the seventh round but managed to draw in the eighth round to reach 5.5 points.

In the U-10 girls category, M. Sahithi Varshini is leading the Indian pack with 5.5 points. Shivika Rohilla and B. Savitha Shri are trailing behind with 5 points each.

In the U-8 open section, Daaevik Wadhawan is the highest rated Indian with six points. He is followed by A. R. Ilamparthi (5.5 points) and Priansh Das (5 points).

In the U-8 girls category, Sneha Halder (6 points) has inched up to joint third position with a win against Mirazli Elif Ecrin of Turkmenistan. A. N. Shefali is closely following Sneha with 5.5 points. Shefali beat Figelman Maya of the United States in the eighth round.

Three more rounds remain to be played in the 11-round championship. Ninth round will be played on Tuesday.

Photo Caption: Sneha Halder in action at the World Cadets Chess Championship being held at Pocos de Caldas in Brazil.