Top seed Sasikiran (6) was joined at the top by Hafizulhelmi, who posed a great threat to the Indian's hopes of winning the coveted title, which his countrymate Tajas Bakre had won in Rasht (Iran) last year.

Grandmaster norm holder Sasikiran was on equal ground with the Malaysian in the Kings Indian Defence, but he lost material in the middlegame and in a desperate charge to win, committed mistakes and lost the game.

National women's champion S Vijayalakshmi (5.5), however, brought cheers to the Indian camp when she outsmarted Bui Nhu My (4) of Vietnam in a Queens Indian Defence game to claim sole third position after eight rounds.

Playing with black pieces, Viji sacrificed a pawn which tricked her opponent to go for misplay. Viji used her strong bishops and better position tosnatch full point in 38 moves.

Viji was placed third while China's Wang Yu and Le K Thienkim of Vietnam, with 6.5 points each, were in joint lead.

Pallavi Shah (4) recorded her fourth victory when she downed Malaysia's Lee Su Ann (2) with black pieces but MR Sangeetha (3) lost to Vietnam's Nguyen Ng Binh (4).

Defending champion Bakre (5) drew his eighth round game against Liang Cheng (5) of China while Laylo Darwin (5) of The Philippines bounced back from his 7th round defeat to Sasikiran, to beat Irwin Irandi (Indonesia, 3).

Nisha Mohota scores

YEREVAN (ARMENIA): IWM Nisha Mohota scored full points against Budylina Sofia (Estonia) even as Sundararajan Kidambi continued to struggle in the third round of the World Junior Chess Championships here today.

Mohota (2), who lost to Georgian Theshelashvili Sopio yesterday, bounced back today despite playing black pieces.

In a Caro-Kann defence game, Mohota laid a trap and won a piece for two pawns and opened the gates for an easy win. White choseadvanced variation, but the Indian captured one more piece before winning the game.

Junior National champion Kidambi (1), had to fight hard to get half point against Slovenian Guid Matej (1).

Playing open variation of Ruy Lopez, Kidambi changed the order of moves and got into an inferior position. He, however, reached bishop and four pawn versus knight and four pawn ending, and was lucky to escape with a draw.

Grandmaster Asrian Karen (Armenia), with three points, was leading the boys' section while woman Fide Master Kouvatsov Maria (3) of Greece was placed at the top in the girls' event.