Aleksandra pips Srija to retain girls' crown in junior chess

PUNE: Sixteen-year-old Russian and top seed Aleksandra Goryachkina successfully defended her girls' title while her compatriot Vladimir Fedoseev fought back to contention in the open section at the end of the penultimate round of the World Junior chess championships on Saturday.
Woman Grandmaster Goryachkina needed a draw on Saturday to retain her crown, and she did it in style by beating host challenger Srija Seshadri to tally 10.5 points.
With the second-placed Ann Chumpitaz of Peru trailing by 1.5 points, Goryachkina was victorious with one round to spare. Srija could have settled for a draw, but in an effort to force a result, messed up a knight-pawn endgame, allowing the white's king to advance and dominate. Padmini Rout's chances of finishing on the podium were purely mathematical when she drew with black against Anna Iwanow of Poland.