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Mohota loses, Kidambi wins

Fourth seeded Grandmaster Galkin Alexander (9.5 points) of Russia and 20th seed Kouvatsou Maria (8.5) of Greece are just half a point away from the title in the boys' and girls' sections respectively after the 12th round in the World Junior Chess championships in Yerevan, Armenia.

Both need only a draw in the final round to emerge tops.

Needing only a draw in the 12th round to win the championship in the girls' group, Kouvatsou could not sustain the tension. She played badly and lost to Vo Mong Phuong (7.5) of Vietnam.

Known as an attacking player, Kouvatsou was not her usual self and tried to play a calm and quiet game to earn a draw. However, Vomong went for tactical play and won.

Nisha Mohota (7) of India also succumbed to the pressure of playing on the top board in the last two rounds and lost to Jackove Jona (8) of the Greek Republic. Nisha committed a serious mistake in the opening itself and found herself in a minus position of Queen's gambit accepted opening.

Jackova took full advantage of this mistake and played correctly to win the game in the 34th move.

The defeat shunted Mohota to fourth place in the girls' group. Cmitlyte Viktonia and Jackova shared the second place with eight points each.

Sundararajan Kidambi (6) scored a fine victory over Rizouk Amen (5) of Algeria. In the Alpine variation of Sicilian defence, Kidambi, playing black, got a better pawn structure against the isolated 'd' pawn of his opponent. He could win the second pawn later in the the middle game but allowed his opponent a counter on his king. Kidmabi had to move his king all over the board to save threats of his opponent's queen rook. The Indian played correctly to win the game on the 49th move.

After playing three consecutive draws in the 9th, 10th and 11th games in the top table, Grandmaster Galkin Alexander of Russia played a master piece and crushed Lopez Jose Martinez (7.5) in the 12th round. Right from the would go, Galkin went for the kill and won the game in 28 moves. He now needs only a draw in the last round to win the championship.

Top seed Kasimdzanov of Uzbekistan is in second place with nine points. The third place is shared by Blehom Powel of Polland and Nauaman Alexander of Germany with 8.5 points each.

UNI