Nikhil, who played with black pieces, has three and a half points.

In the girls section, overnight sole leader Pon N Krithika extended her lead to a full point as she overcame Uzbekistan girl Tokhirjanova Hulkar in their fourth round encounter.
It was a setback for Indians in the Under-16 and Under-14 Open sections as medal prospects Priyadharshan lost his fourth round match against sixth seed Nguyen Van Hai of Vietnam while overnight joint leader GV Sai Krishana tumbled against Idani Poya of Iran.

Continuing her show in the championship, Tamil Nadu girl Srija Seshadri are now in sole lead with perfect score after four rounds in the Girls under-12 section.

Priyanka Kumari, J Saranya (Girls’ under-14), Diptyan Ghosh, Sayantan Das (Open under-12) Srija Seshadri (Girls’ under-12) Ivana Maria Furtado (Girls’ under-10), Mitrabha Guha (Open under-8) and Palkin Kaur (Girls’ under-8) were the other Indian leaders.

PTI

Important results (Round four; Indians otherwise stated): Boys: Under-18: Salem A R Saleh (UAE, 3.5 ) drew Shayam Nikil (3.5); Shreyansh Daklia (2) lt to Debashis Das (3); Faizulaev Akmal (Uzb, 3) bt Ulziibayar Boldbaatar (Mon, 2); Nhu Tung (Vie, 2) lt to Pourramezanali Amirreza (Iran, 2.5); Satyajit Kundu (2) drew Darini Pouria (Iran, 1.5).

Under-16: Nguyen Van Hai (Vie, 4) bt K Priyadharshan (3); Atabayev Maksat (Tur, 3) bt Aditya Udehsi (2); Kazakov Konstantin (Kaz, 2) bt Tillayev Ulugbek (Uzb, 2); Saeed Ishaq (UAE, 2) lt to Vidit Santosh Gujarathi (2.5); Ramnath Bhuvanesh (1.5) lt to Ankit R Rajpara (2.5).

Under-14: Vakhidov Jahongir (Uzb, 3.5) bt Igambergenov Alibek (Kaz, 2.5); GV Sai Krishna (2.5) lt to Idani Poya (Iran, 3.5); Sahaj Grover (3) bt Yagmurov Sultan (Tur, 2); Javanbakht Nima (Iran, 2) lt to Shiven Khosla (3); Nihal Manjunath (2) drew Pham Hoai Nam (Vie, 2.5).

Girls:  Under-18: Pon N Krithika (4) bt Tokhirjanova Hulkar (Uzb, 2.5); Bhakti Kulkarni (3) bt Mitali Madhukar Patil (2.5); Nakhbayeva Guliskhan (3) bt Uthra P (2); Manasa K (2) drew Isayeva Aynur (2.5); Dhara Gupta (2) drew Sathya Priya (1.5).

Under-16: Hoang Thi Nhu Y (Vie, 3.5) bt Hejazipour Mitra (Iran, 2.5); Pallabi Roy (2.5) lt to Vo Thi Kim Phung (Vie, 3.5); Anu Bayar (Mon) (2.5) drew Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (Vie, 2.5); Bharathi R (3) bt Enkhtuul Altanulzii (Mon, 2); Zhylkaidarova Sholpan (Kaz, 2) drew Shalmali Gagare (2).

Under-14: Pratyush Bodda (2.5) lt to Priyanka Kumari (3.5); Khademalsharieh Sarasadat (Iran, 3.5) bt Atabayeva Gozel (Tur, 2.5); Do Hoang Minh Tho (Vie, 2) lt to Saranya J (3.5); Nandhidhaa PV (3) bt Bagheri Taleghani Nadia (Iran, 2).