India’s Karthikeyan Murali and R Praggnanandhaa registered their third win in four rounds to hold on to the joint second position with seven others in the World Junior (U-20) chess championship currently underway in Travisio, Italy.
Playing white Grandmaster Karthikeyan defeated local hope Luca Moroni Jr while International Master Praggnanandhaa upset top seeded Dutch GM Jorden van Foreest to their tally to 3.5 points from a possible four.
Compatriot IM Harsha Bharathakoti, who was in joint lead till the third round, slipped to joint third spot after he lost to Russian FM Aleksey Sorokin. Sorokin now holds the joint top spot with compatriot GM Kirill Alekseenho with four points.
In the girls’ section, India’s Aakanksha Hagawane was in joint third position with three points while Praggnanandhaa sister, R Vaishali, was half a point behind.