World Junior Championship is closing to the end and after round 12 Abhijeet Gupta grounded down Arik Braun to share the lead with David Howell who won against Maxim Rodshtein, and Parimarjan Negi who won against Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen at 9 points out of 12. Eltaj Safarli and Arik Braun are still at striking distance with 8.5 points.

In World Junior Girls Championship Harika Dronavalli won against Narmin Kazimova and has 10 points out of 12. Her closest rival Mariya Muzychuk drew with Anastasia Bodnaruk and has 9 points now. Swaminathan Soumya and Miranda Mikadze drew their games and Mikadze is at the third place with 8.5 points. 5 players led by Kübra Öztürk from the home side are at a striking distance. Detailed news,pictures, results and pairings are available at the official website.Round-by-round reports between 8-12 based on the offical web site are below.

Round 11

Parimarjan Negi

Expect many more changes in the fight for the title during the final rounds of World Junior Championship where Arik Braun recaptured the lead after defeating Wesley So while Maxim Rodshtein lost against Truon Nguyen. Now Braun has 8.5 points followed by 6 players: David Howell, Eltaj Safarli, Maxim Rodshtein, Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen , Abhijeet Gupta and Parimarjan Negi. So, expect many more thrillers in teh final two rounds!

In the World Junior Girls Championship home-side star Kübra Öztürk's march to the top was halted calmly by Harika Dronavalli who captured the sole lead once again with 9 points followed by Mariya Muzychuk  who failed to win against Zoja Severiukhina of Russia. The top two seeds are followed Georgian Miranda Mikadze has 8 points and follows the two players.



Round 10

Harika Dronavalli

The World Junior Championship keeps on producing new leaders. This time, Maxim Rodshtein who has been winning  for the last couple of rounds this time victimized the ex-leader Arik Braun to take the lead with 8 points. Arik Braun is not the only runner-up since young Filipino Wesley So defeated David Howell today.

Miranda Mikadze held Harika Dronavalli to a draw which enabled Harika to be caught by Mariya Muzychuk who won against Swaminathan Soumya. The top two seeds Harika and Muzychuk now shares the first place at 8 points followed by Guliskan Nakhbayeve who defeated Tatev Abrahamyan and Miranda Mikadze both have 7,5 points.

Arik Braun

Round 9

In Round 9 of the World Junior Championship, the fighting spirit of the youngsters continued and the leader changed hands again. Maxim Rodshtein crowned his comeback with one of the joint leaders Chao Li. However, the new sole leader is Arik Braun who scored a vital win against Hou Yifan with white pieces. David Howell, the player who has always have the longest and the thrilling games had Ivan Popov at the other side of the table and defeated him. Arik Braun leads with 7.5 points followed by David Howell with 7 while 4-7. places Chao Li, Eltaj Safarli and Wesley So.

In Girls', Harika drew with Soumya to defend her lead with 7.5 points while Mariya Muzychuk drew with Guliskan Nakhbayeva and followed Harika at 7 points together with Miranda Mikadze who defeated Zoja Severiukhina to share 2-3.places.



Round 8

Chao Li was the victorious side of the thrilling six-hour marathon with David Howell to rejoin the leading position together with Arik Braun who drew against Eltaj Safarli at 6.5 points. 3-7. places are shared by David Howell, Eltaj Seferli, Hou Yifan, Ivan Popov and Maxim Rodshtein.

In Girls' section, Harika Dronavalli continued her lead after winning against Adriana Nikolova at 7 points followed by Mariya Muzychuk just half point behind. 3-5.places are shared by Miranda Mikadze, Guliskan Nakhbayeva, and Swaminathan Soumya at 6 points.