Dronavalli Harika suffered a setback in the eighth round and lost her lead in the girls' under-18 event of the World Youth Chess Championships in Batumi, Georgia.

Harika lost the crucial encounter against top seed Arutyunova Diana of Ukraine. The defeat pushed her to second place.

Nargiz Umadova of Azerbaijan made the most of the opportunity by moving into the lead after beating Abrahamyan Tatev of the United States.

Harika played too sharply against the Dutch defence of Diana and ended up losing a couple of pawns on the queenside.

The material deficit proved to be too high and Harika was unable to avoid defeat though she gamely fought on till the 66th move.

Another Indian, Mary Ann Gomes also slipped down in the standings after losing to Khotenashvili Bela in the eighth round.

In the boys' under-12 section, N Srinath slipped to joint-second position following a draw against Aghasaryan Robert of Armenia.

However, Girish Kaushik continued his winning spree into the eighth round of the boys' Under-10 category of the championship to emerge a clear favourite to win the title.

Girish, who has a cent per cent winning record so far, defeated Beradze Irakli of Georgia with black pieces and widened his lead to two points. He is trailed by a pack of players who share the second spot with 6.0 points each.

The race for the silver and bronze medals is wide open in this group as the competition for medals is becoming more intense as the event enters its final phase.

The championships are being held in 12 categories for age groups from under-8 to under-18 with separate championships for girls in each age group.

In the under-8 category, Ch. Mohineesh dropped points for the first time in the tournament when he was held to a draw by compatriot Prince Bajaj.

Mohineesh, however, enjoys a half point lead over Petrosyan Manuel of Armenia, who he will play in the ninth round.

Ivana Furtado continued her fine performance and maintained her lead in the girls under-8 group with a victory over compatriot Mahalakshmi M.

Navyavyshnavi Mannepalli is in the second spot with 6.5 points, half-a-point behind Ivana as a result of her win against Osmak Iulija of Ukraine.

Important Indian results:

Boys' Under-18: Arun Prasad S (5.0) drew Rohit G (5.0)

Girls Under-18: Harika Dronavalli (6.0) lost to Arutyunova Diana (UKR, 5.5), Gomes Mary Ann (5.5) lost to Khotenashvili Bela (GEO, 6.0).

Boys' Under-16: Spoelman Wouter (NED, 5.5) beat Sai Srinivas (4.5) Aswin Jayaram (5.0) beat Sadeh Shahin (IRI, 4.0).

Girls' Under-16: Siradze Salome (GEO, 4.5) drew Ramya Krishna I (4.5) Ozturk Kubra (TUR, 5.0) beat Dave Dhyani (4.0).

Boys' Under-14: Perez Ponsa Federico (ARG) drew Adhiban B (5.5) Sandeep Y (4.5) Beat Alizadeh Sakhir (AZE, 4.0).

Girls' Under-14: Sukandar Kharisma Irine (INA, 5.5) beat Bhakti P Kulkarni (4.5) Lakshmi Sahiti P (5.5) beat Ugulava Lela (GEO, 4.5) Pon N Krithika (5.0) drew Hejazipour Mitra (IRI, 5.0).

Boys' Under-12: Narayanan Srinath (6.5) drew Aghasaryan Robert (ARM, 6.5), Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (5.0) lost to Bajarani Ulvi (AZE, 6.5), Robson Ray (USA, 6.0) beat Sri Harsha Lingala (5.0).

Girls' Under-12: Padmini Rout (6.0) beat Ibragimova Sabina (AZE, 5.5), Mohana Priya J (4.5) drew Vasiljeva Sofija (LAT,4.5).

Boys' Under-10: Beradze Irakli (GEO, 5.5) lost to Girish A Koushik (8.0), Sai Krishna G V (6.0) drew Chakravarthi Y V K (6.0), Eswar R (6.0) drew Sayantan Das (6.0).

Girls Under-10: Zhai Mo (CHN, 5.5) drew Sahajasri Ch (6.5), Kotepalli Sai Nirupama (6.5) beat Shamatava Ana (GEO, 5.5), Gaboyan Susanna(ARM, 5.0) beat Bharathi G Uma (4.0).

Boys' Under-8: Prince Bajaj (6.5) drew Mohineesh Ch (7.5), Soumya Sharma (5.0) lost to Sanal Vahap (TUR, 6.5), Tutisani Noe (GEO, 6.0) beat Satvik M (4.5).

Girls' Under-8: Furtado Ivana Maria (7.0) beat Mahalakshmi M (5.5), Navyavyshnavi Mannepalli (6.5) beat Osmak Iulija (UKR, 5.5), Patel Sweety (6.0) beat Shreya M Gomini (5.0).

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