Praggnanandhaa wins penultimate round, poised to take U-18

India were well-placed to pocket a few medals in the World Youth Chess Championship here on Friday, with GM R Praggnanandhaa all but likely to lead the charge with a gold medal.

WIM Vantika Agrawal (Under-18 Girls), Candidate Master Aronyak Ghosh (Under-16 Open) and LR Srihari (Under-14 Open) were in a good position and can eye a silver medal each at the end of the penultimate round.

The first two can hope to convert it into a gold if they win their last games and the other matches go their way.

Grand Master Praggnanandhaa asserted his supremacy in the Under-18 Open, trudging to a crucial victory against IM Paulius Pultinevicius of Lithuania to take his tally to 8.5 points.

The 63-move victory gave him a half-point advantage that could fetch him the gold with a draw in the 11th and final round on Saturday.

He will, however, be wary of top seed GM Shant Sargsyan of Armenia who thrashed IM Mitrabha Guha for his third straight victory to be in the second position with 8 ...