CHENNAI: Warming the Indian hearts, Delhi-based IM Sahaj Grover (3.5) scored a facile victory over FIDE Master Marian Adrian Petrisor of Romania in the fourth round of the SDAT-RAMCO 50th World Junior & 29th Junior Girls Chess Championships here on Friday.
Israeli GM Tamir Nabaty went down to IM Axel Rombaldoni of Italy in the second board. The win helped Rombaldoni take lead with four points in open section. Following closely the leader with 3.5 points were GM Ivan Lopez Salgado of Spain, Polish IM Kacper Piorun and Grover.
Earlier, the top board game between Salgado and Piorun ended in a draw. Another result that saw an Indian boy holding a Grandmaster, as Karnataka boy GA Stany held Sasa Martinovic to a draw.
In the girls section, India’s Padmini Rout had a pawn advantage against the top-seeded WGM Nazi Paikidze, but could not make much headway and settled for a draw after five hours. WGM Olga Girya of Russia leads the pack with four points from as many rounds, followed by India’s Padmini Rout, Paikidze Nazi (Georgia), Irina Bulmaga (Romania), Cori T Deysi (Peru) and Gulikshan Nakhbayeva Guliskhan (Kazakhastan) respectively.
Results: Round 4 (Open) (Indians unless specified): Ivan Salgado (Spa) 3.5 drew with Kacper Piorun Kacper (Pol) 3.5, Tamir Nabaty (Isrl) 2.5 lost to Axel Rombaldoni (Ita) 4, Ray Robson (USA) 2.5 lost to Aleksey Goganov (Rus) 3.5 Milos Roganovic (Srb) 3 drew with Ter-Sahakyan Samvel (Arm) 3, Frode Urkedal (Nor) 3 drew with Darius Swiercz (Pol) 3, Oglu Vugar Ural Rasulov (Aze) 3 drew with Vladislav Kovalev (Blr) 3; Sasa Martinovic (Cro) 3 drew with G A Stany 3; Niclas Huschenbeth (Ger) 3.5 bt Nicolai Getz (No) 2.5; Sahaj Grover 3.5 bt Marian Adrian Petrisor (Rom) 2.5; M R Lalith Babu 3 drew with Tihomir Janev (Bul) 3.
Round 4 Results (Girls) (Indians unless specified): Padmini Rout (3.5) drew with Nazi Paikidze (Geo) 3.5; Irina Bulmaga (Roma) 3.5 drew with Cori T Deysi (Peru) 3.5, Olga Girya (Rus)4 bt Qizi Kazimova (Aze) 3; Guliskhan Nakhbayeva (Kaz) 3.5 bt Inna Agrest (Swe) 2, Bhakti Kulkarni 2.5 drew with Zrinka Deur (Cro) 2.5; Eric Jovana (Srb) 2.5 drew with Carole Forestier (Fra) 2.5, Kubra Ozturk (Tur) 2.5 drew with Aisa Imeeva (Rus)2.5, P V Nandhidhaa 3 bt Hoang Thi Nhu (Vie) 2; Pon N Krithika 2.5 drew with Julia Dogodkina (Rus) 2.5; Elena Semenova (Rus) 3 bt Carla Heredia (Ecu) 2.