With the 15-year-old Chinese wonder-boy Wei Yi and Russia’s 16-year-old girls’ defending champion Aleksandra Goryachkina closing in on the world junior (under-20) chess titles, India’s medal hopes in the Open section suffered a serious blow in the 11th round here on Friday.
Even as Srija Seshadri moved to joint second place to brighten the prospects of an Indian girl being on the podium, Diptayan Ghosh, Ankit Rajpara and Aravindh Chithambaram’s defeats have virtually limited the Indian challenge to lower places.
Srija completed a hat-trick of victories at the expense of teammate P.V. Nandhidhaa to reach eight points. Srija, who scored six points in the last seven rounds, has so far gained 92.8 rating points in the competition.
Padmini Rout (7.5) committed an early mistake to give second-placed Ann Chumpitaz a pawn. The sixth-seeded Indian battled back to gain lost ground, but eventually settled for a draw in 55 moves.
If Wei Yi (9) was one of the early finishers after dismissing Armenia’s Karen Grigoryan’s challenge with disdain in 41 turns, Goryachkina (9.5) took twice that number of moves to overpower China’s Zhao Mo.
In fact, the Russian girl enjoys a 1.5-point lead and only requires one point from the remaining two rounds to keep the title. Wei Yi is half-a-point ahead of teammate Lu Shanglei and one clear of a pack comprising four players, including top-seeded Russian Vladimir Fedoseev, who dashed Diptayan’s hopes of a Grandmaster norm by inflicting a 68-move defeat.
Rajpara surrendered to fellow Grandmaster and fifth seed Jorge Cori and Aravindh accepted the superiority of Kamil Dragun in 51 moves.
For the host, Vidit Gujrathi’s 20-move triumph over Slovakia’s Christopher Repka came earlier than expected before a victorious Murali Karthikeyan matched his tally of 7.5 points by staying on the comeback trail.
Earlier, the round was inaugurated by Andrzej Filipowicz, chairman of the FIDE technical commission and chief arbiter of the upcoming world title match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand in Sochi, Russia.
Leading 11th round results (Indians unless stated): Open: Wei Yi (Chn, 9) bt Karen Grigoryan (Arm, 7); Grigoriy Oparin (Rus, 7.5) drew with Lu Shanglei (Chn, 8.5); Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus, 8) bt Diptayan Ghosh (7); Jorge Cori (Per, 8) bt Ankit Rajpara (7); Irakli Beradze (Geo, 7) lost to Jan-Krzsztof Duda (Pol, 8); Bai Jinshi (Chn, 7.5) drew with Aleksandar Indjic (Srb, 7.5); Kamil Dragun (Pol, 8) bt Aravindh Chithambaram (7); Vidit Gujrathi (7.5) bt Christopher Repka (Svk, 6.5); Aryan Tari (Nor, 7.5) bt Mikhail Antipov (Rus, 6.5); Murali Karthikeyan (7.5) bt Balazs Csonka (Hun, 6.5).
Girls: Aleksandra Goryachkina (9.5) bt Zhao Mo (Chn, 7); Padmini Rout (7.5) drew with Ann Chumpitaz (Per, 8); Daria Pustovoitova (Rus, 7.5) drew with Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iri, 7.5); Srija Seshadri (8) bt P.V. Nandhidhaa (6.5); Irina Petrukhina (Rus, 6.5) lost to Maria Gevorgyan (Arm, 7.5); Mona Khaled (Egy, 6.5) lost to Sabina Ibrahimova (Aze, 7.5); Jan Jodilyn Fronda (Phi, 6.5) drew with Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (Vie, 6.5); Marina Brunello (Ita, 7) bt R. Vaishali (6); Kurbonboeva Sarvinoz (Uzb, 7) bt Rucha Pujari (6).
