Batumi: 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 here.

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

Nargiz Umadova of Azerbaijan made the most of the opportunity by moving into lead with a win over Abrahamyan Tatev of the US.

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 fought on till the 66th move.

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

In the boys’ U-12 section, N. Srinath slipped to joint second position following his 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. Girish defeated Beradze Irakli of Georgia with black pieces and widened his lead to two points. He is being trailed by a pack of players who share the second spot with 6 points each. (PTI)