Negombo (Sri Lanka), July 19: Defending champion Deepan Chakkravarthy started his campaign in style defeating Raja Nachiappan of Hong Kong in the opening round of the 26th Asian Junior Championships here today. All the other seeded players, except third seed international master norm holder G Rohit, coasted to easy victories in this prestigious event that will decide the best under-20 player in Asia.

Rohit was held to a draw by lower rated Andrew Alan of Australia in the only first round flutter.

As many as 33 players are competing in the boys championship and 28 in girls, representing 12 countries. The 11-round championship is being played under fide's Swiss rules.

It was on the third board where Alan held Rohit to a draw. In a long drawn Kings Indian game the Australian fought well to hold the Indian.
International master P Magesh Chandran made short work of Bangladeshi Mohamed Ali in a philidor game that lasted 46 moves. Top seed Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam too had an easy outing when he cruised past the defences of Malaysian Chan Tze Wei who played White.

In the girls section woman international masters Dronavalli Harika and Tania Sachdev won their games comfortably. Top seed Harika defeated local girl C Nirmala in a grunfeld game, checkmating her opponent in 56 moves while defending champion Tania continued from where she left last year, scoring a technical 43-move victory over Katharyn Ann Cruz of Philippines.
Bureau Report