The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Time India `A' got its act together

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 06, 2004

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Sport - Chess

Time India `A' got its act together

By P. K. Ajith Kumar

KOZHIKODE, JULY 5. It's not often that the Indians fail to make an impact in an international age-group chess tournament.

The 10th Youth Chess Olympiad, which resumes at Taj Residency on Tuesday after a rest day, is proving to be an exception. There are four rounds left but it will be difficult for any of the six teams fielded by the host to stop the joint leaders — defending champion Hungary and second seed China.

The biggest disappointment has been India `A'. The team, comprising S. Arun Prasad, G. N. Gopal, K. Nikhilesh Kumar, T. Abhay and Rahul Sangma, is lying in the fifth spot with 12 points. That it could not even beat India `D' whose strongest player has a rating of only 2089 — the `A' team captain Arun Prasad has 2348 — sums up the dismal show it has put up so far. The `A' squad was held to a 2-2 draw by India `B' and crushed 0.5-3.5 by China.

The `A' team hasn't yet faced strong teams like Hungary and Uzbekistan. The boys do need to pull up their socks if they want to salvage some pride. ``We might still get a bronze if we score heavily in the remaining rounds,'' said Gopal. ``Yes, it's been a disappointing performance from us, especially against India `D', but we are confident that we would still be able to do something.''

India `B' has fared better. It has scored 13 points and is currently placed behind China, Hungary and Iran. K. Vijay Keerthi, Pratik Shriwas, Parimarjan Negi, Praveen Prasad and Mary Ann Gomes have reasons to be pleased with their effort so far, particularly the 2.5-1.5 verdict against Kazakhstan and the 2-2 draw against India `A'. On Tuesday, it meets China in the sixth round.

The Chinese team, made up of Wang Hao, Zhou Jianchao, Xiu Desun and Li Chao, has given a good account of itself, scoring 15 points. So have the Hungarians with a line-up that includes Tamas Banusz, Denes Boros, David Berczes, Kristian Szabo and Laszlo Horvath. The Iranian team, consisting of Omid Noroozi, Atousa Pourkashiyan, Toufighi Homayoon, Arash Abdoollahzadeh and Mohammed Miran Khademi, has also done pretty well to pick up 13.5 points.

As far as the individual performances are concerned, Hungary's fourth board player, Szabo, has been outstanding, winning all his five games. Turkey's Fethi Apaydin is leading the top board with 4.5 points from five games while on the second, Boros of Denmark and Iran's promising female player, Atousa, have scored four each from five games. China's Xiu Desun is the top player on the third board with four out of five.

The best bet among the Indians is K. Narayanan. Playing on the fourth board for India `D, he has 3.5 points from four games.

Standings after five rounds: 1-2 China, Hungary 15 points, 3. Iran 13.5, 4. India `B' 13, 5-7 India `A', Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan 12, 8. Turkey 11.5, 9-10 India `D', India `E' 11, 11. India `C' 10.5, 12-13 South Africa, Australia 9, 14-15 Sri Lanka `B', Sri Lanka `A' 8, 16-17 Malaysia, Sri Lanka `C' 7.5, 18. India `F' 7, 19. Sri Lanka `D' 4.5 and 20. Sri Lanka `E' 3.

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