Padmini Rout’s superior understanding of the end-game position, involving a bishop each and pawns, came handy in stopping Iran’s Mona Khaled and join three other girls in the lead in the World junior chess championship here on Thursday. After four rounds, overnight leader Russia’s Daria Pustovoitova, Iran’s Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and Peru’s Ann Chumpitaz were the other leaders at 3.5 points.
In the open section, fifth seed Peru’s Jorge Cori was the lone leader after overpowering last year’s World under-18 champion Iran’s Pouya Idani in 39 moves.
Draws on the first and third boards, including one featuring Vidit Gujrathi, helped Cori to emerge as the leader with a perfect score. S.L. Narayanan was part of the group of six players sharing the second spot with 3.5 points. Narayanan, playing black, overpowered Poland’s Kamil Dragun in 47 moves.Among the Indian boys, N. Srinath showed a glimpse of his potential by holding top seed Vladimir Fedoseev in 56 moves.
On a day when 10-year-old Nihal Sarin’s unbeaten run ended after facing Shardul Gagare, the surprise of the day was the 17-year-old Coimbatore lad R. Ganesh who denied ninth-seeded Grandmaster Sahaj Grover an anticipated victory.
Ganesh, rated at a modest 2030 as against Sahaj’s 2491, continued his unbeaten run to garner a whopping 102 rating points from four games.
Leading fourth round results: Open: Vladislav Kovalev (Blr, 3.5) drew with Wei Yi (Chn, 3.5); Pouya Idani (Iri, 3) lost to Jorge Cori (Per, 4); Vidit Gujrathi (3) drew with Lu Shanglei (Chn, 3.5); N. Srinath (3) drew with Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus, 3); Karen Grigoryan (Arm, 3.5) bt Aravindh Chithambaram (2.5); Kamil Dragun (Pol, 2.5) lost to S.L. Narayanan (3.5). Ufuk Sezen Arat (Tur, 2.5) lost to Mikhail Antipov (Rus, 3.5); Gabriel Gaehwiler (Sui, 3) drew with Ankit Rajpara (3); R. Ganesh (3) drew with Sahaj Grover (3); Jan-Krzystof Duda (Pol, 2.5) drew with Aryan Tari (Nor, 3).
Girls: Daria Pustovoitova (Rus, 3.5) drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 3); Meri Arabidze (Geo, 3) drew with Ivana Furtado (3); Maria Gevorgyan (Arm, 2.5) lost to Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iri, 3.5); Vlada Sviridova (Rus, 3) drew with Zhai Mo (Chn, 3); Padmini Rout (3.5) bt Mona Khaled (Egy, 2.5).
Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (Vie, 3) drew with Aysa Imeeva (Rus, 3); Irina Petrukhina (Rus, 3) drew with Pratyusha Bodda (3); Ann Chumpitaz (Per, 3.5) bt Sakshi Chitlange (2.5); Mila Zarkovic (Srb, 2.5) drew with Ni Shiqun (Chn, 2.5); J. Saranya (2.5) drew with Marina Brunello (Ita, 2.5). — Special Correspondent
