World Junior Chess Round 9: Alexander Ipatov Leads, Sahaj Grover Joint 4th

Grandmaster Sahaj Grover provided the silver lining on a sluggish day for the Indian boys as he held top seed Yu Yangyi to a draw in the ninth round of the World Junior Chess Championship here in the ninth round.

Kocaeli: With the championship approaching its business end, the Indian boys were in for a rude shock as only Debashish Das could score a full point. Despite a good result, Grover slipped to joint fourth with 6.5 points.

Alexander Ipatov (photo) made the most of his chances against Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi and shot into sole lead on eight points out of a possible nine. For the records, this was Ipatov’s fifth victory against an Indian in the championship in as many matches.

For the first time in the event, Yu Yangyi slumped to second on 7.5 points while Jorge Cori of Peru elevated himself to third position on seven points.

With four rounds to come, Grover shares the fourth spot with Samvel Ter-Sahakyan of Armenia, Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland and Aleksander Indjic of Serbia, who all have 6.5 points apiece.

Among Indian boys, S.P. Sethuraman was held to a draw by compatriot N. Srinath in a keenly-contested game wherein the former could not make much use of an extra pawn for a long time as Srinath hung in to force a liquidation into a level queen and pawns endgame.

Das defeated lower-rated Jinshi Bai to move to six points, a position he shares with Srinath, Gujrathi and Sethuraman.

Grover did not get many chances out of a Nimzo Indian against Yangyi, who came with a new idea, forcing the Indian to spend a lot of time in the opening.

Grover found the way to equality without much ado and the players arrived at a rook and opposite colour Bishops endgame that was just level. --PTI

Read more »

World Junior Chess Round 6: Sahaj Grover in Joint Second Place

Kocaeli, Turkey: Grandmaster and former U-10 world champion Sahaj Grover came up with an inspired performance to beat compatriot Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi in the sixth round of the World Junior chess championship.

The victory with white pieces helped Grover to jump to joint second spot on five points out of a possible six. Yu Yangyi of China regained sole lead on 5.5 points defeating S P Sethuraman in a keenly contested game.

Grover was in his elements in a Nimzo Indian defense game against Gujrathi. It was a complex middle game wherein Gujrathi was the first to err and Grover won a pawn to reach a better endgame.

On the 40th move Gujrathi made the fatal error resulting in loss of another pawn that sealed the fate of the game. Grover picked the full point without much ado thereafter.

Sethuraman played the Najdorf Sicilian and showed excellent preparation in the early part of the game. However, Yangyi got the balance in his favour with an over-the-board improvement and Sethuraman's king came under fire.

The Indian sacrificed a piece but could only reach a slightly worse endgame where Yangyi's technique was too good.

Yangyi is now followed by Grover, defending champion Alexander Ipatov of Turkey, Urii Eliseev of Russia and Debashish Das who all have five points apiece.

Debashish Das came close to attaining the Grandmaster title for which he needs to touch the 2500 rating mark. In the sixth round Das defeated Jahongir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan.

Aulia Warda Melina of Indonesia seized the lead in the girls' championship being played simultaneously defeating top seed Alina Kashlinskaya of Russia. The Indonesian girl took her tally to 5.5 points in all.

The all-Indian duel between Rucha Pujari and Padmini Rout ended in a draw and both inched to four points out of their six games.

G K Monnisha also reached four points after settling for a draw with Zhansaya Abdumalik of Uzbekistan.

Amongst other Indians in the fray in the open section, S L Narayanan and N Srinath played out draws while Sameer Kathmale and Rakesh Kulkarni scored victories.

In the girls' category, J Saranya, Shristi Shetty and Riya Sawant posted victories, Anjan Krishna lost while Ivana Maria Furtado was held to a draw. -- PTI

Important and Indian Results round 6 open (Indians unless stated): Yu Yangyi (Chn, 5.5) beat S P Sethuraman (4.5); Tamas Petenyi (Svk, 4) lost to Alexander Ipatov (Tur, 5); Sahaj Grover (5) beat Vidit Gujrathi (4); Urii Eliseev (Rus, 5) beat Marcel Kanarek (Pol, 4); Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Pol, 4.5) drew with Pouya Idani (Iri, 4.5); Debashis Das (5) beat Johangir Vakhidov (Uzb, 4); Jorge Cori (Per, 4.5) beat Paul Velten (Fra, 3.5); Vahe Baghdasaryan (Arm, 3.5) lost to Vladislav Kovalev (Blr, 4.5); N Srinath (4) drew with Sanal Vahap (Tur, 4); Ashiku Franc (Alb, 3) drew with drew with S L Narayanan (3); Cem Gundogan (Tur, 2) lost to Sameer Kathmale (3); Rakesh Kulkarni (2) beat Erdene Baasansuren (Mgl, 1).

Girls: Alina Kashlinskaya (Rus, 4.5) lost to Aulia Warda Medina (Ina, 5.5); Irina Bulmaga (Rou, 5) drew with Deysi Cori (Per, 4.5); Meri Arabidze (Geo, 4.5) drew with Wang Jue (Chn, 4.5); Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 4) drew with Anastasiya Rakhmangulova (Ukr, 4); Sabina Ibrahimova (Aze, 3.5) lost to Dinara Saduakassova (Kaz, 4.5); Rucha Pujari (4) drew with Padmini Rout (4); G K Monnisha (4) drew with Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kaz, 4); Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iri, 3.5) drew with Ivana Maria Furtado (3.5); Xiao Yiyi (Chn, 3.5) beat Anjana Krishna (2.5); Cansu Soylemez (Tur, 2.5) lost to J Saranya (3.5); Melisa Birgelir (Tur, 1.5) lost to Shristi Shetty (2.5); Riya Savant (2) beat Zivile Urbonaviciute (Ltu, 1).

Read more »

Fujairah Chess Open: Abhijeet Gupta, Ganguly, Chanda among Several Indians to Participate

Fujairah (UAE): Grandmaster and former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta will spearhead the Indian challenge in the Fujairah International chess tournament that gets underway here on Tuesday. Currently ranked fourth in the country, Gupta is playing his first tournament after the Chess Olympiad where he bagged the silver medal on the fourth board playing for Team India.

 

Mr. Abdullah Al Barkat, Chairman of Fujairah Chess club welcomes Mr. Geoffrey Borg, Chief Executive Officer of 'Global Chess', the Marketing Arm of World Chess Federation who visited the UAE Chess Federation recently. They discussed about the rules and regulations of the Fujairah International Chess Championship. Also present were His Excellency Sheikh Saud Al Mualla, President of the UAE Chess Federation, Mr Mehdi and Mr. Tunaiji.

The Indian has escalated himself to 2667 ELO rating points and the expectations are high despite the presence of a very strong field here. Gupta is not the lone Indian hopeful in the 50500 USD prize money tournament as multiple times national champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Sandipan Chanda have it in them to make the best on their day. For the records, this will be amongst the strongest ever tournament in Asia with presence of over 20 players above 2600 rating in the fray.

Read more »