FIDE master Nguyen Anh Khoi is on top of Asian tournament for youth,

HA NOI (VNS) — Nguyen Anh Khoi of Viet Nam yesterday defeated India's Saurabh Anand to maintain his lead in the U12 category at the Asian Youth Chess Championships underway in Uzbekistan.

International Chess Federation (FIDE) master Khoi has collected seven points after as many matches, establishing a two-point lead over his nearest rival Ram Aravind of India.

Ruslan Salimov of Kazakhstan is third with five points.

Khoi, the former world U10 champion, will next play Shamsiddin Vokhidov, now in fifth place, also with five points.

Meanwhile, in the U8 category, Viet Nam's Nguyen Xuan Hien stands in third place with five points, 1.5 points behind leader Akhmedinov Satbek of Kazakhstan.

Hien, who still has a chance to win the title if he wins both his remaining matches, will play Mongolia's Ochirbat Lkhagvajamts today.

Five other contestants from Viet Nam are struggling in their age categories at the tournament. — VNS