Yerevan: Top seeded Women Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Jolanta Zawadzka of Poland in the 11th round of the World Junior Girls Chess Championship underway here.

The loss came as a real blow to Harika’s title hopes as the Indian was in sole lead after the previous round but is now sharing the top spot with Zawadzka and Vera Nebolsina of Russia on 8.5 points out of a possible 11.

In the boys’ championship being held simultaneously, there were glorious uncertainties even as Ivan Popov emerged as the sole leader with just two rounds remaining.

The Russian, with 8.5 points, was followed by Wang Hao of China, Georg Meier of Germany and Ahmed Adly of Egypt.

The Indian challenge for a medal in this section virtually came to an end as national junior champion Abhijeet Gupta misplayed a clearly superior position against Adly. (PTI)