The Hindu : Good start by Indians

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 17, 2002

Sport

Sport - Chess

Good start by Indians

By Manuel Aaron

Iraklio Nov. 16. Indians made a good start to the World Youth Chess Festival, which began here last night after terrible scenes of chaos, confusion and frayed nerves.

Of the 28 Indians here, only three lost, that too in the boys' under-14 category one Indian lost to another Indian. While the girls' under-10 and under-12 started at 7-30 p.m., three hours behind schedule, all the boys' categories started at 8 p.m. However the girls' under-14, under-16 and under-18 started at 9-35 p.m. after the pairings were changed several times. In the girls' under-18, India's P. Priya first had an opponent on board 24. Then it was changed and she was catapulted to the top table. However, a third and final pairing placed her on the second board against the Chinese girl, Woman Grandmaster Zhao Xue, who had tied for first with Koneru Humpy at the last World junior championship in Athens.

In the under-14, Saheli Nath got a walk over. In the under-12 there were

five walk-overs!

The last Indian game to end in the first round was that of Amruta Mokal against Vanessa West of the U.S. When the American resigned, it was 1-45 a.m. About 30 minutes earlier, Tania Sachdev and Eesha Karawade had beaten their opponents. All the three managed dinner with whatever snacks their mothers had provided as the restaurant had already closed by then.

In the boys' section, IM Deepan Chakravarthy in the under-16 and Deep Sengupta in the under-14 were considered as unrated and paired. Like this, many others from other countries had also been affected. It took a couple of pairing lists to finally start the tournament.

A new error, however, crept in in Aswin Jayaram's case in the under-12 section. While he was seed No. 24 on Friday thanks to his rating, in the second round pairings today he was seeded 70th! His mother found out that they were reversing his two names and not finding his name in that order, decided he was an unrated player and gave him a new seeding.

Meanwhile, despite having arrived here only a few hours earlier, GM Harikrishna played a superb game to defeat W. Spenger of Austria. In a middle-game from a Semi-Slav, Harikrishna sacrificed his central pawn on

e4 to keep the game from drifting to equality. He then sacrificed his two rooks for two bishops and a knight. With the minor pieces in full play Harikrishna was in his element. He sacrificed a bishop on h7 to rip open

black's castled position. He successfully kept Spenger's queen and rook out of play and hunted the king to win in 51 moves.

Dronavalli Harika had a facile victory in 41 moves with her French Defence against Michaela Mayer of Austria. Mayer was no match for Harika and lost a rook for a bishop on the 14th move. By the 28th turn, Mayer had only a few pawns left against the rook and bishop of Harika and played till mate ended her agony.

Asian under-14 champion G. Rohit crashed to an unexpected defeat to

compatriot Namra Haren Pandya. In a game of fluctuating fortunes both players were in time trouble. Towards the end, Rohit had the better game

though Pandya was not without chances. But then, Rohit forgot about his clock and lost on time.

Priya was outplayed in the middle game by Zhao Xue the World Junior No. 2 from China. The Chinese girl pressured on the white backward pawn on c3. Priya tried to tactically redeem the position but the Chinese played accurately to win. Asian under-10 champion, Parimarjan Negi, blundered away his queen but still managed to draw.

The results (first round, involving Indians)

Boys: Under-10: Dan Mars Ulu (Kirgiz) drew with P. Negi; Sean McCarrick (Ire) lost to Y. Sandeep; Robin Dragomirescu (Rom) lost to P.P. Prachura.

Under-12: Sankalp Modwal bt Davi Recuerrio Guerre (Esp); Subodh Lakhey bt Georgios Papandreou (Gre); Sai Srinivas lost to Marion Bojchev (Bul); Mansur Mingatchev (Rus) lost to C.R.G. Krishna; Sasa Martinovic (Cro) lost to Aswin Jayaram.

Under-14: G. Rohit lost to Namra Haren Pandya; Alex Bachman (Paraguay) lost to Deep Sengupta; Andrea Lehmann (Swi) drew with K. Nikhilesh Kumar.

Under-16: David Kovachev (Nor) lost to Deepan Chakravarthy; Somak Palit bt Echeveria Acuna.

Under-18: P. Harikrishna bt W. Spenger (Aut); Poobesh Anand bt Armandeniz (Turk).

Girls: Under-10: P. Lakshmi Sahithi bt Boglarka Erdos (Hun); Jibek Azamatkysy lost to Monogna Mandava; Ieva Zaliamaitis (Ltu) lost to Gundala Madanasri.

Under-12: Michaela Mayer (Aut) lost to D. Harika; I. Ramya Krishna bt Gabrielle Nadeau (Can); Irena Rukina (Est) lost to Kajri Choksi.

Under-14: Heather Huddlestone (Aus) lost to Krutiga Nadig; Saheli Nath got walk over.

Under-16: Tania Sachdev bt Tamara Bolary (Mex); Karella Bolon (Nor) lost to Eesha Karavade; Vanessa West (US) lost to Amruta Mokal.

Under-18: P. Priya lost to Zhao Xue (Chn).

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport