Underdogs continue to shine

The less-fancied SL Narayanan continued his dream run in the fifth round of the LIC World Junior Chess Championship here on Friday, shocking GM Vladislav Kovalev of Belarus to emerge joint leader.

Even in the girls section, 18-year-old PV Nandhidhaa and 15-year-old Maria Ivana Furtado upset IM Meri Arabidze and Nguyen Thi Mai Hung, respectively.

Meanwhile, Vidit Gujrathi, the top-rated Indian in fray, was again forced to split a point with N Srinath. It was Gujrathi's third consecutive draw.

Important Results (Rd 5)
Open section (Indians unless specified): Cori Jorge (PER, 4.5) drew Yi Wei (CHN, 3); Lu Shanglei (CHN, 4.5) bt Karen Grigoryan (SRM, 3.5) SL Narayanan (4.5) bt Vladislav Kovalev (BLR, 3.5); Mikhail Antipov (RUS, 4) drew Grigoriy Oparin (RUS, 4); Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS, 4) bt Tadeas Kriebel (CZE, 3); Aryan Tari (NOR, 3.5) drew with Robin Van Kampen (NED, 3.5); N Srinath (3.5) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (3.5); Benjamin Bok (NED, 4) bt Shardul Gagare (3); Bai Jinshi (CHN, 4) bt Pouya Idani (IRI, 3); Ankit Rajpara (3.5) drew with Niranjan Navalgund (3.5); Sahaj Grover (4) bt Gabiel Gaehwiler (SUI, 3); Kamil Dragu (POL, 3.5) bt R Ganesh (3)
Girls section: Sarasadat Khademaisharieh (IRI, 4) drew with Padmini Rout (4); Ann Chumpitaz (PER, 4) drew with Daria Pustovoitova (RUS, 4); Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS, 4) bt Clada Sviridova (RUS, 3); Nandhidhaa PV (4) bt Meri Arabidze (GEO, 3); Mo Zhai (CHN, 4) bt Pratyusha Bodda (3); Ivana Maria Furtado (4) bt Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (VIE, 3); Ioana Gelip (ROU, 4) bt Irina Petrukhina (RUS, 3); Aysa Imeeva (RUS, 3) lost to Sabina Ibrahimova (AZE, 4)