NAGPUR: Top seed Divya Deshmukh played out a quick draw with seed no.2 Mkrtchyan Mariam of Armenia to maintain sole lead in the World Junior girls chess championship currently in progress at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on Sunday.
At the end of the seventh round of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) organized U-20 championship, five players are closely trailing 18-year-old Divya by half a point.
On the top board battles between the top two seeds, Divya defended well with her black pieces and played out a quick 25-move draw. On Mariam's queen pawn opening, Divya chose the Slav defense and since the game remained at par both agreed to split the points on the 25th turn after the rook's got exchanged.
With the second board contest between Kseniya Norman and Narmin Abdinova ending in a 47-move draw, Divya was able to maintain her sole lead, collecting six points. The 2456 Elo Divya continued to remain unbeaten as she has won five games and split the points twice.
Divya is being followed by Kseniya Norman, Narmin Abdinova, Mariam, Kaldarova Ayaulym and compatriot Rakshitta Ravi with 5.5 points apiece.
On Monday, Divya will start with the white pieces against 12th seeded Norman.
