TAGAYTAY CITY—Indian International Master Srinath Narayanan and compatriot Woman IM Furtado Ivana Maria won their respective matches last night and stayed firmly in command in the 2014 Asian Juniors and Girls Chess Championships at Tagaytay International Convention Center here.
The defending champion Narayanan squeezed out a hard-earned win over Filipino Candidate Master Marc Christian Nazario to pull away in the Open division while Ivana Maria repulsed Kazakh WFM Sholpan Zhykaidarova in 63 moves of a Slav Defense to grab the solo lead in the Girls division.
The top-seeded Narayanan outmaneuvered a time-pressured Nazario to prevail in 69 moves of a Petroff Defense and climb to 5.5 points, a full point ahead of Filipino FM Paulo Bersamina, who beat Daryl Unix Samantila.
Narayanan said he would have settled for a draw by repetition, but Nazario deviated on his third move and paid the price.
Ivana Maria improved to 5.0 points, half a point clear of the streaking Mikee Charlene Suede.
Continuing her rise, Suede bested Indian Rucha Pujari for her fourth straight win. She earlier stunned Indian WFM J Saranya.
IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia was at 4.0 following his conquest of Mongolian FM Sumiya Bilguun.
Other sixth-round matches saw Marie Antoinette San Diego (4.0) beat fellow WFM Shania Mae Mendoza (2.0); India’s Pv Nandhidhaa (4.0) defeat Jerlyn Mae San Diego (3.0), United Arab Emirates’ Abdallah Aldhaheri (2.0) tame compatriot WFM Mozah Al-Moaamari (1.0), and Tagaytay City College’s Karen Mariano (2.0) down Bangladesh’s Zahuratul Zannat Zisha (1.5) in the Girls’ division.