Of Sharing The Lead - Amier and Yit San, Nithya and Li Ting

It has been an interesting Round 5 at the 5th National Junior Chess Championship in both the Boys and Girls sections. The fallen leader in the Boys section, and the defeated sisters in the Girls section.

Mark Siew had a good chance to seal the lead had he won his game against top seed Fong Yit San but all was not well for the Perakian as he had to concede the game after Yit San's 64th move, handing the full point to his fellow statesman. On Table 2, CM Amier Hamzah did very well to outplay Tan Jun Feng and with the win, Amier now shares the lead with Yit San with both having amassed 4.5 each after 5 rounds of play. Amier and Yit San are currently facing each other in the 6th round and the winner will seal the sole lead of the event, a critical point considering there are only 3 more rounds to go before the event concludes. With most of the strong players are now out of the way, it will be a race to the finish line for the leader at this late point of the tournament. Destiny would be in their own hands

On Table 3, Aron Teh outplayed Shreyes to keep himself within striking distance with 4 points. Joining him in the same point group are Mohd Noor Azam and a surprising unknown Lim Kim Siong who defeated Subramanian Sivanesan on Table 6. Liew Ken Yew dropped further from the running after another drawn game against Kung Kah Heng.

For the Girls section, Tan Li Ting continued her fine run with a win against Nur Najiha Azman Hisham on Table 1 - one of those rare outings for the Azman Hisham's siblings where both sisters suffered defeat at the hand of a single player in the same tournament. Nithyalakshmi continued her fine run in the event snatching another full point against Kelly Lim on Table 2 to share the top spot with Tan Li Ting - both now have 4.5 points after 5 rounds. Nithya and Li Ting will square off in the 6th round to have the sole lead of the event, and a win by either may just be enough to seal the fate of the event.

A win by either Amier (left) or Yit San (right) will earn him the right to brag as the sole leader of the event after 6 rounds

Players in concentration - Round 6

Nur Najiha (left) dropped to Table 2 after losing her game to Tan Li Ting in Round 5 and currently facing Anis Fariha (right)

Nithyalakshmi playing on Table 1 - a win against Tan Li Ting will contribute to her quest of achieving her first National title.