MUMBAI, Nov 25: Tejas Bakre emerged as the sole leader in the boys' section with three points while Aarthie Ramaswamy and Le Kieu Thien Kim of Vietnam share the lead with three points after three rounds of the Sahara Asian Sub-junior (under-16) Chess Championships at the Avion Hotel today.

Bakre (Elo 2355) defeated Malaysian Lim Yee Weng (2150), while Aarthie won in 34 moves against Samantha Le Heng Jun of Malaysia while Le Kieu defeated overnight leader Manasi Dadarkar.

National under-16 champion P Mahesh Chandran (Ramalingam) was the sole occupant of the second spot after defeating compatriot S Kidambi, while four Indians -- S Satyapragyan, Surya Shekar Ganguly, Prathamesh Mokal and Valay Parikh -- are in the third spot with two points with Ahmed Aziz of Iraq.

Bakre employed the Yugoslav attack to Lim Yee's Sicilian Dragon Defence. The Malaysian sacrificed a knight in hope of gaining three pawns. But Bakre cleverly played the h6 move which saved one of his pawns which turned out to be poor compensation for white.

Lim Yee never relented and launched an attack on the King-side which Bakre defended well. In the skirmish, Lim lost another piece and resigned.

Mahesh Chandran won from a position better for his opponent, Soundarajan Kidambi. Mahesh, playing the Old Indian Defence, came under time pressure after attaining equality in middle game. But Kidambi allowed a King-side attack to Mahesh who sacrificed a rook, but soon gained an exchange. Kidambi blundered and lost his rook, and resigned after 44 moves.

S Satyapragyan, who drew for the second consecutive time, miscalculated and offered a draw in a better position when he was winning a pawn in two moves.

Surya Shekar Ganguly, the third seed, at last found his winning ways when he defeated Vo Minh Hoang of Vietnam in 39 moves. Ganguly delayed his attack on black after playing the Vienna opening. He won a pawn on the 30th move and then a bishop on the 33rd when the Vietnamese offered to resign.

Twelve-year-old Valay Parikh played the Caro-Kann defence and punished Uzbekistan's Nesterenko Nikita, who made a couple of mistakes in the opening moves itself. He was left a doubles pawn and another isolated pawn and Parikh won in 39 moves.

Aarthie played a brilliant attacking game, using the Yugoslav attack to thwart the Sicilian Dragon defence of Samantha. After the Malaysian made a positional mistake, Aarthie opened her opponent's H file, prevented black from castling, sacrificed a pawn and threatened mate with queen, rooks and knight.

Overnight leader, Manasi Dadarkar lost in 26 moves to Le Keiu in a game arising out of Centre Counter defence. Le Keiu, with white pieces, played a brilliant attacking game.

RESULTS: Boys: Tejas Bakre (Ind) 3 beat Lim Yee Weng (Mal) 2; S Satyapragyan (Ind) 2 drew Ahmed Aziz (Iraq) 2; S Kidambi (Ind) 1.5 lost to P Mahesh Chandran (Ind) 2.5; Anton Paolo del Mundo (Phi) 1.5 lost to Khamrakulov Ibrokhim (Uzb) 2; Surya Sekhar Ganguly (Ind) 2 beat Vo Minh Hoang (Viet) 1; Yulianto Erwin (Indo) 2 beat Ghaem Maghaml Ehsan (Iran) 1; Prathamesh Mokal (Ind) 2 beat Subir Goradia (Ind) 1; Nesterenko Nikita (Kzk) 1 lost to Valay Parikh (Ind) 1; Askarov Bachtyar (Kzk) 1 lost to Wong Zi Jing (Mal) 1.5; Batzorig Tuvshintugs (Mong) 0.5 drew Gareth Charles (Aus) 0.5; Md Rahul Islam Boby (Bang) 1 beat Shoven Shah (Ind) 0

Girls: Shraddha Samani (Ind) 0 lost to J E Kavita (Ind) 2; Aarthie Ramaswamy (Ind) 3 beat Samantha Lee Heng Jun (Mal) 1; Yogita Yevle (Ind) 0 lost to Yusubalieva Sevara (Uzb) 2; Leonova Maija (Kzk) 2 lost to M Kavana (Ind) 2; Le Keiu Thien Kim (Viet) 3 beat Manasi Dadarkar (Ind) 2

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.