Nguyen Thi Mai Hung has retained her lead in the girls' U18 group with 5.5 points after seven rounds at the Asian Youth Chess Championships in Sri Lanka yesterday.

In the seventh round, Hung surprisingly drew with India's Pujari Rucha, who has an Elo rating lower than her. Luckily for Hung, second placed player Saranya J from India also tied with Enkhtuul Altanulzii from Mongolia.

Her teammate Doan Thi Van Anh beat Khademalsharieh Sarasadat from Iran and temporarily ranked ninth in the group.

In the boys' U10 group, Nguyen Anh Khoi defeated Derakhshani Borna from Iran to retain his lead. His teammate Pham Phu Vinh lost to Derakhshani Borna from Mongolia and earned only three points.

In the boys' U8 group, Phan The Hien beat his teammate Nguyen Huynh Minh Thien to take the top position on the rankings with six points. Thien fell to third place with five points.

In other groups, the Vietnamese players could not improve their positions. There are only two matches left.-VNS