The Russians rose to the occasion in the 12th and penultimate round of the LIC World junior Chess championship here Saturday as Alexandra Goryachkina scored a thumping grand double by successfully defending her title which she had won in Turkey last year with a round to spare in the Girls section by defeating Srija Seshadri.
Her compatriot Vladimir Fedoseev, the top seed, opened the doors towards the title in the Open section by defeating Wei Yi to share joint leader status with the Chinese star.
Goryachkina has tallied a whopping 10.5 points and maintained a clean slate. Ann Chumpitaz of Peru is trailing in second place with nine points followed by Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (8.5) while Padmini Rout, and Srija Seshadri along with three others are bunched with eight apiece.
In the Open section, there is a four-way tie at the top with Fedoseev, Wei, Lu Shanglei of China and Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland all totalling nine points each.
Kamil Dragun of Poland is second with 8.5 points while Vidit Santosh Gujrathi along with eight others has scored eight.
India's best hope Padmini Rout conceded another draw to Anna Iwanow, making things more difficult for her. Padmini, opting for the Modern Defence, had to split point despite an extra pawn in a rook and bishop each ending after 52 moves.
Fedoseev, after an indifferent first half, has been working his way steadily up the points ladder and Saturday, capitalized on an opening inaccuracy by We Yi to score a smooth victory.
In contrast Jorge Cori, impressive in the first half, has been steadily losing way and was upset by Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland.
Important results (Indians unless specified):
Open: Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus) 9 bt Wei Yi (Chn) 9; Lu Shanglei (Chn) 9 drew Kamil Dragun (Pol) 8.5; Duda Jan Krzysztof (Pol) 9 bt Jorge Cori (Per) 9; Karthikeyan M 8 drew Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 8 ; Quinten Ducarmon (Ned) 8 drew Aleksander Indjic (Srb) 8; Aryan Tari (Nor) 8 drew Grigoriy Oparin (Rus) 8; Ankit Rajpara 7.5 drew Bai Jinshi (Chn) 7.5; Aravindh Chithambaram 7.5 drew Benjamin Bok 7.5; Karen Grigoriyan (Arm) 7.5 drew Anurag Mhamal 7.5; N Srinath 8 bt Vladislav Kovalev (Blr) 7; Diptayan Ghosh 7.5 drew Borya Ider (Fra) 7.5.
Girls: Aleksandra Goryachkin (Rus) 10.5 bt Srija Seshadri 8; Sabina Ibrahimova (Aze) 7.5 bt Ann Chumpitaz (Per) 9; Meri Arabidze(Geo) 7.5 lost to Sarasadat Khademalshaarieh (Iri) 8.5; Anna Iwanow (Pol) 8 drew Padmini Rout 8; Marina Brunello (Ita) 8 bt Daria Pustovoitova (Rus) 7.5; Zhai Mo (Chn) 7.5 drew Ivana Maria Furtado 7.5; Ioana Gelip (Rou) 7 lost to Sarvinoz Kurbonboeva (Uzb) 8; Nguyen Thi Mai (Vie) 7 drew G.K. Monnisha 7.
