Collective disappointment at Asian Youth Chess

Three out of four Orissa players suffered defeats in the third round of the Asian Youth Chess Championship at New Delhi today. IM elect Debashis Das, who posted wins in the first two rounds of the under-18 boys category, lost to UAE Grandmaster AR Saleh Salem to stay at two points. In the under-12 boys group, Sidhant Mohapatra failed to increase points from 1.5 as he was beaten by Cyrus Pereira (India). Under-14 boys’ second seed Utkal Ranjan Sahu continued to struggle following a defeat at the hands of Sultan Yagmurov (Turkmenistan). After three rounds Sahu has only 0.5 points in his account. Sankalp Baliarsingh, the fourth Orissa player, drew with Nuremir Babanov (KGZ) to increase his score to one point.