World Youth Chess: Pranav, Rakshitta lead India's challenge

Indians continued to hold sway in the Under-14 categories of the World Youth Chess Championship, with FIDE Master Pranav Anand and Woman International Master Rakshitta Ravi scoring swift victories here on Saturday.

Pranav beat Polands Sebastian Poltorak in the U14 Open category to share the lead with IM Aydin Suleymanli of Azerbaijan and India's Aditya Sawant as Round 5 continued late into the evening.

Pranav has 4.5 points to move past overnight leader LR Srihari who yielded the top position after losing to Suleymanli.

Rakshitta crushed Varvara Poliakova of Belarus to jump into sole lead in the U14 Girls class with 4.5 points.

Top seeded WIM Divya Deshmukh too downed compatriot Aanya Agrawal, putting her title hunt back on track.

Divya has 3.5 points after suffering one loss and one draw in five rounds.

In the Under-18 Open, India's star player Grand Master R Praggnanandhaa held on to the pole position with 4.5 points, defeating compatriot Arjun Kalyan after an intense ..