New Delhi, Aug 6 - After a poor start, Delhi-based FIDE Master Sahaj Grover came back strongly to take the sole lead in the Under-14 Open category of the ongoing Asian Youth Chess Championship, defeating Vakhidov Jahongir of Uzbekistan in the sixth round here Thursday.

He now enjoys a crucial half point lead over teammate G.V. Sai Krishna and Iranian Idani Pouya.

In the girls Under-18 Open category, the dream run of Tamilnadu teenager Pon N. Krithika come to an halt as she lost her crucial fifth round match against Nakhbayeva Gulishkhan of Kazakhstan.

Just two rounds remaining in this section, Krithika is now tied in the pole position along with Gulishkhan and team mate Bhakti Kulkarni.

Meanwhile in the open section overnight joint leader Shyam Nikil signed the peace treaty against teammate Debashis Das in the fifth round encounter and that helped top-seed and Grandmaster Salem A. R. Saleh to take the sole lead as he beat Faizulaev Akmal of Uzbekistan in the fifth round.

J. Saranya (Girls' Under-14), Diptyan Ghosh (Open Under-12) Monisha GK (Girls' Under-12) Ivana Maria Furtado (Girls' Under-10), Mitrabha Guha (Open Under-8) Nithya Pallempati and Tarini Goyal (Girls' Under-8) were the other Indian leaders.

Important Results (Indians otherwise stated):

Under-18 Open (Round-5): GM Salem A R Saleh of UAE (4.5 ) beat Faizulaev Akmal of Uzbekistan (3); Shayam Nikil (4) drew with Debashis Das (3.5); Pourramezanali Amirreza of Iran (3.5) beat Shreyansh Daklia (2) ; Ulziibayar Boldbaatar of Mongolia (2.5) drew with Ton That Nhu Tung of Vietnam (2.5); Atabayev Yusup of Turkmenistan (3) beat Satyajit Kundu (2).

Under-18 Girls (Round-5): Nakhbayeva Gulishkhan of Kazakhstan (4) beat Pon N Krithika (4); Isayeva Aynur of Turkmenistan (2.5) lost to Bhakti Kulkarni (4) ; Tokhirjanova Hulkar of Uzbekistan (3) drew with Mitali Madhukar Patil (3) ; Uthra P (3) beat Dhara Gupta (2) ; Vardkar Mariam of Iran (2) lost to Manasa K (3)

Under-16 Open (Round-6): Vidit Santosh Gujarathi (4) drew with K Priyadharshan (4.5) ; Ankit R Rajpara (4) drew with Atabayev Maksat of Turkmenistan (4) ; Kazakov Konstantin of Kazakhstan (3) lost to Nguyen Van Hai of Vietnam (5); Tillyaev Ulugbek of Uzbekistan (3) lost to Aditya Udeshi (4) ; Ramanath Bhuvanesh (3.5) beat Rishi Thariani (2.5)

Under-16 Girls (Round-6): Hoang Thi Nhu Y of Vietnam (4.5) drew with Bharathi R (4); Rucha Pujari (4) drew with Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnam (4.5) ; Hejazipour Mitra of Iran (3.5) drew with Nguyen Thi Mai Hung of Vietnam (3.5); Anu Bayar of Mongolia (3.5) drew with Pallabi Roy (3.5); Qurbonboeva Sarvinoz of Uzbekistan (4) beat Enkhtuul Altanulzii of Mongolia (3).