Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan), July 01: Grandmaster Pentyala Harikrishna scored a thumping victory over local hope Kadir Guseinov to remain in joint second spot alongwith compatriot Surya Shekhar Ganguly after the 9th round of the World Juniors Chess Championship here. Top seed Shakhriyaz Mamedyarov, who lost a game against IM P Magesh Chandran earlier in the tournament, remained atop the table with another fine victory over fellow Azerbaijani Vugar Gashimov and took his tally to 7 points.

Half a point adrift of the leader were Ganguly, who beat German Kritz Leonid, Harikrishna, Alexander Zubov of Ukraine and Sergei Azarov of Belarus.

Russian Vitaly Bachin and Israili Sergey Erenburg shared the fifth spot on 6 points each. Four more rounds remain in this 50-player competition. In the girls section, Georgian Nana Dzagnidze continued with her ominous form and cruised past Zehra Topel of Turkey for her seventh successive victory in as many games.

Dronavalli Harika (5.5 points) moved to sole second position with a technical victory over local Zeinab Mamedjarova. Harika is 1.5 points behind the leader but has a full point lead over next lot of players that include Asian Junior Girls Champion Tania Sachdev and Saheli Nath. The other Indians in the fray had a mixed day. Magesh Chandran struck form once again to win against S Arun Prasad, Deepan Chakravarthy went down to Rauf Mamedov of Azerbaijan, G Rohit came good against world Under-10 champion Safarli Eltaz of Azerbaijan and Abhijit Gupta was held to a draw by lower rated local Agayev Nidzat. Bureau Report