Prakash Nepal Wins Prem Bahadur Thapa Magar Chess in Kathmandu

Kathmandu, Sept 21: Prakash Nepal (left) of Jhapa has won the Prem Bahadur Thapa Magar Memorial Second National Chess Championship held in Hetauda. Nepal totalled seven points in eight rounds to stand clear first.

Nepal beat Balaram Sanjel of Makawanpur in the final round to earn the title and Rs 15,000. He also earned direct qualification for the Nepal chess entry for the Asian Amateur Championship to be held in Saudi Arabia in November and the World Amateur Championship scheduled to be held in Singapore in April, 2014.

Purushottam Chaulagain of Standard Chartered finished second with 6.5 points. He beat Bivek Thing of Times International College in the last round. Suman Shrestha of Dhankuta was third on tie-break ahead of Suraj Pandit of Kathmandu. Shrestha and Pandit received Rs 7,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively. Shrestha beat Herakaji Maharjan of Lalitpur in the last round and Pandit beat Rajan Subedi of Damak, Jhapa.

Subedi, Rahul Chau Pradhan of Kavre and Nabin Kumar Chaudhary of Saptari were 5th-7th with 5.5 points each. Bivek Thing, Balaram Sanjel and Sundar Karki of Makawanpur finished 8th-10th. Each won Rs 2,000 each.

The event organised by Makawanpur District Chess Association was officiated by Gyanendra Khaiju, the first international arbiter from Nepal. -- B&W Chess News Desk

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Tashkent Women's Chess Grand Prix: Koneru Humpy Leads with All Wins

Indian women's chess stars Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli are leading the table at the Tashkent Women's Chess Grand Prix after three rounds. While top seed Humpy is in first place with three wins for a perfect score, Harika is right behind in second place with 2.5 points.

Koneru Humpy

The Tashkent Women's Grand Prix is currently being held in Uzbekistan from September 17th - October 1st. The tournament is part of the Women's World Championship cycle 2013-14 that will determine the next challenger for the world title. The 12-player round robin is based on the time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, with 30 minutes being added at that point and an additional 30 seconds per move through the entire game.

All the girls in Tashkent

Koneru Humpy, a former World Championship Challenger, beat Ju Wenjun, Elina Danielian and Alexandra Kosteniuk in the first three rounds for a perfect score. Harika, on her part, Bela Khotenashvili, drew with Guliskhan Nakhbayeva and beat Olga Girya. 

On Saturday, the Indian chess girls' pairing are:
GM Koneru Humpy 2607 vs GM Lagno Kateryna 2532
WGM Ju Wenjun 2535 vs GM Dronavalli Harika 2475

Harika and Girya

You can watch the games live at the official website every day including boards with analysis and live video feed.

Rank after round 3
1 GM Koneru Humpy 2607 IND 3 

2 GM Dronavalli Harika 2475 IND 2.5 

3 IM Khotenashvili Bela 2514 GEO 2 

4 GM Zhao Xue 2579 CHN 2 

5 GM Lagno Kateryna 2532 UKR 2 

6 WGM Ju Wenjun 2535 CHN 1.5 

7 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2496 BUL 1.5 

8 WGM Muminova Nafisa 2293 UZB 1 

9 WGM Girya Olga 2439 RUS 1 

10 WGM Nakhbayeva Guliskhan 2307 KAZ 0.5 

11 GM Danielian Elina 2470 ARM 0.5 

12 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2495 RUS 0.5 

The opening ceremony of the third leg of FIDE Women Grand Prix Series 2013-2014 took place at the beautiful Gallery of Fine Art on the 17th of September. The event was attended by special guests including FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Minister of Culture and Sports of Uzbekistan Minhozhiddin Hozhimatov, the First Deputy Minister of Sports of Uzbekistan Zhasur Akramov, the Head of the Administration of Sports Rashid Talipov, the Head of the Administration of Olympic reserve Kamil Bayazitov, the Head of The State Committee for Communication, Informatization and Telecommunication Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan Hurshid Mirzahidov and others. 

The Chairperson of Fund Forum's Board of Trustees Gulnara Karimova couldn't be present at the ceremony but passed her warmest welcome for the participants and expressed the hope to the future of the Fund Forum's cooperation with the World Chess Federation.

GM Viktorija Cmilyte was replaced for the current Grand Prix with WGM Guliskhan Nakhbayeba of Kazakhstan. Two stages of the Women's Chess Grand Prix 2013-2014 Series, out of six, have been played so far. 

GM Anna Muzichuk is currently leading the Chess Grand Prix score with 250 points, GM Nana Dzagnidze is in second place with 220, and third is GM Tatiana Kosintseva, who has replaced her sister Nadezhda for the entire Grand Prix Series, with 190. All could change after the Tashkent Chess Grand Prix!

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World Junior Chess Round 7

Kocaeli: Indian Grandmaster S P Sethuraman came back into the reckoning for top honours after defeating Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland in the seventh round of World Junior Chess Championship.
After losing the sixth round against Yu Yangyi (photo left) of China, Sethuraman needed to win to stay in contention and he did that in style with white pieces to take his tally to 5.5 points.

Playing the white side of a Queen pawn game, Sethuraman got the initial advantage and he capitalised on it well to win a pawn by force in the middle game. Jan-Krzysztof, however, came up with some real resistance and it was only in the nick of time that Sethuraman found a brilliant queen sacrifice to march to glory.

Yu Yangyi of China, meanwhile, stayed ahead of the rest with another fine performance against Russian Urii Eleseev. The Chinese took his tally to a commanding 6.5 points out of a possible seven and stayed a half point clear of defending champion and local hero Alexander Ipatov.

Indian Grandmaster Sahaj Grover and Sethuraman share a four-way tie for the third spot along with Jorge Cori of Peru and Idani Pouya of Iran with six rounds still to go in the premier event for under-20 players in the world.

Grandmaster Vidit Gujarathi also scored a comeback victory over Turkey's Dastan Muhammed Batuhan while, after initial hiccups, Asian junior champion N Srinath played a fine game to cruise past Martin Romero Martinex of Colombia. Both Gujrathi and Srinath have five points apiece.

Among other Indians in the fray, S L Narayanan moved to four points, Sameer Kathmale secured 3.5 after a draw while Rakesh Kulkarni took his tally to three points with his second victory.

Padmini Rout defeated G K Monnisha to reach five points in the girls' championship being played simultaneously. Irina Bulmaga of Romania defeated overnight leader Aulia Warda Melina of Indonesia to emerge as the new sole leader on six points from seven games in this section.

It was a mixed day for the Indian girls as Rucha Pujari met her nemesis in Zhansaya Abdumalik of Uzbekistan while Ivana Maria Furtado was held to a draw by Aisa Imeeva of Russia. J Saranya also ended on the losing side while Anjana Krishna and Riya Sawant won their games.

Important and Indian Results of Round 7 Open (Indians unless stated): Urii Eliseev (Rus, 5) lost to Yu Yangyi (Chn, 6.5); Alexander Ipatov (Tur, 6) beat Debashis Das (5); Vladislav Kovalev (Blr, 5) drew with Sahaj Grover (5.5); Andry Stukopin (Rus, 4.5) lost t Jorge Cori (Per, 5.5); S P Sethuraman (5.5) beat Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Pol, 4.5); Aleksandar Indjic (Srb, 4.5) lost to Idani Pouya (Iri, 5.5); Vidit Gujrathi (5) beat Dastan Muhammed Batuhan (Tur, 4); Martin Romero Martinez (Col, 4) lost to N Srinath (5); S L Narayanan (4) beat Carneiro Vitor Roberto Castro (Bra, 3); Sameer Kathmale (3.5) drew with Diyap Buyukasik (Tur, 3.5); Yargici Mazhar Kutay (Tur, 2) lost to Rakesh Kulkarni (2).

Girls: Aulia Warda Medina (Ina, 5.5) lost to Irina Bulmaga (Rou, 6); Wang Jue (Chn, 4.5) lost to Alina Kashlinskaya (Rus, 5.5); Deysi Cori (Per, 5.5) beat Zhai Mo (Chn, 4.5); Dinara Saduakassova (Kaz, 4.5) lost to Meri Arabidze (Geo, 5.5); Padmini Rout (5) beat G K Monnisha (4); Zhansaya Abdumalik (Uzb, 5) beat Pujari Rucha (4); J Saranya (3.5) lost to Xiao Yiyi (Chn, 4.5); Ivana Maria Furtado (4) drew with Aisa Imeeva (Rus, 4); Anjana Krishna (3.5) beat Barbara Racki (Cro, 2.5); Gulay Ayca Nuriye (Tur, 2) lost to Riya Savant (3). -- PTI

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