The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Hungary begins campaign in style

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 03, 2004

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Sport - Chess

Hungary begins campaign in style

By P. K. Ajith Kumar

KOZHIKODE, JULY 2. G.N. Gopal's face said it all. After comfortably winning his game, Gopal became gloomy as India `A' failed to get all the four expected points against India `E' in the opening round of the 10th Youth Chess Olympiad at Taj Residency here on Friday.

The game that made Gopal and his teammates dull was the third-board encounter between K. Nikhilesh Kumar, a former Asian under-14 champion,and little-known Meenu Rajendran.

The Kerala girl, though a pawn down, made no mistake in a minor-piece ending and got a creditable draw to help her side avoid a whitewash. The Closed Sicilian game lasted 99 moves and took more time than all the other games.

The third-seeded India `A' comprising S. Arun Prasad and T. Abhay besides Gopal and Nikhilesh, thus had to settle for 3.5-0.5 verdict.

The top seed and defending champion Hungary opened his campaign with a resounding 4-0 win against Malaysia, but the second-seeded China was forced to concede a point to Australia.

India `B' thrashed South Africa 4-0, with K. Vijay Keerthi, Pratik Shriwas, Parimarjan Negi and Praveen Prasad all winning without too much difficulty. India `D' and Uzbekistan also posted 4-0 victories, against Sri Lanka `E' and India `F' respectively.

The results (first round): Hungary bt Malaysia 4-0 (Tamas Banusz bt Anas Nazreen Bakri; Denes Boros bt Soon Wai Cheong; David Berczes bt Zarul Shazwan Zullkafli; Kristian Szabo bt Wan Khye Theng). China bt Australia 3-1(Wang Hao bt Vincent Suttor; Zhou Jianchao drew with Dusan Stojic; Xiu Desun bt James Cronan; Li Chao drew with Ruperto Lugo). India `A' bt India `E' 3.5-0.5 (S. Arun Prasad bt J. Rajasurya; G.N. Gopal bt S. Nishanth; K. Nikhilesh Kumar drew with Meenu Rajendran; T. Abhay bt Dhyani Dave); Uzbekistan bt India `F' 4-0 (Timur Gareev bt S. Harini; Dzhurabvek Khamrakulov bt V.K. Sindhu; Andrey Kvon bt Shalmali Gagare; Jamshid Mustafaev bt R. Ganesh); India `B' bt South Africa 4-0 (K. Vijay Keerthi bt Hendrich Stander; Pratik Shriwas bt Bernard Venter; Parimarjan Negi bt Ian van Vollenhoven; Praveen Prasad bt Adam Earle); Kazakhstan bt Sri Lanka `A' 3-1 (Marat Alaguzov drew with I.T. Palawatta; Daniyar Medirbaev bt T. De Silva; D. Issabayev drew with Y.D.B. Madugalle; M. Ivaniov bt D.M.C. Wijayawardane). Iran bt Sri Lanka `B' 3-1 (Noroozi Omid lost to D.I.S. Siriwardane; Poorkasian Atousa bt A. Fernando; Toufighi Tamijani bt M. Jayawardane;Abdoollahzadeh Arash bt L. Radil). India `C' bt Sri Lanka `C' 2.5-1.5 (Soumya Swaminathan bt P.R. Senanayake; Sriram Sarja bt W.G.A. Lakmali; K. Priyadarshan drew with P.K.T. Nisansala; N. Raghavi lost to B.G.D. Umesha; Turkey bt Sri Lanka `D' 3-1 (Apaydin Fethi bt A.G.T. Abesingea; Dernus Berg lost to C. Fernando; Sirin Atakan bt Jinadhsa; Yildiz Betul Cemre bt M.B. Madugalle). India `D' bt Sri Lanka `E' 4-0 (K. Prasanna bt D.M.P. Maheshika; Kiran Mohanty bt Y. Methmali; P. Karthikeyan bt G.J.Y. Lenagala; K. Narayan bt M.M.S.T. Anorathne).

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