The Hindu : Sport / Chess : China in the van, India `A' bounces back

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 07, 2004

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Sport - Chess

China in the van, India `A' bounces back

By P. K. Ajith Kumar

KOZHIKODE, JULY 6. Only a miracle could prevent the Chinese from running away with the title in the 10th Youth chess Olympiad.

At the end of the seventh round at Taj Residency on Tuesday, they had 21 points. Though they lead the second-placed Hungary by just 1.5 points, they are poised to increase the gap further after Wednesday's penultimate round, as they are pitted against India `E'. And they have already played the strongest teams in the competition. Defending champion Hungary on the other hand will face much stiffer challenge from India `B' in the eighth round.

India `A' meanwhile has bounced back into contention for a medal after blanking Turkey 4-0, making up for its disappointing 1.5-2.5 loss to Kazakhstan in the sixth round in the morning. The team is in the joint third position now, with 17.5 points, along with India `B' and Uzbekistan.

China dropped a point in the sixth round to India `B', when Xiu Desun was shocked by Parimarjan Negi on the third board. The Delhi boy won in 50 moves of Sicilian Najdorf, taking full advantage of some weak moves from his rival in a rook-and-minor-piece ending.

The results (seventh round): China (21) bt Iran (16.5) 3-1 (Wang Hao bt Omid Noroozi, Zhou Jianchao bt Atousa Pourkashiyan, Li Chao bt Toufighi Homayoon, Liu Pei lost to Mohammed Khademi); Hungary (19.5) bt Kazakhstan (16) 2.5-1.5 (Tamas Banusz drew with Marat Alaguzov, Denes Boros drew with D. Medirbaev, David Berczes bt D. Issabayev, Kristian Szabo drew with N. Baltabaev); Uzbekistan (17.5) bt India `C' (15.5) 2.5-1.5 (Timur Gareev bt Soumya Swaminathan, Dzhurabek Khamrakulov drew with Sriram Sarja, Andrey Kvon drew with N. Raghavi, Jamshid Mustafaev drew with P. Sivasankari); India `B' (17.5) bt India `D' (14) 3.5-0.5 (K. Vijay Keerthi bt K. Prasanna, Parimarjan Negi bt Kiran Mohanty, Praveen Prasad drew with P. Karthikeyan, Mary Ann Gomes bt K. Narayanan); India `A' (17.5) bt Turkey (12.5) 4-0 (S. Arun Prasad bt Apaydin Fethi, G.N. Gopal bt Deruns Berg, T. Abhay bt Sirin Atakan, Rahul Sangma bt Yildiz Betul Cemre); India `E' (15.5) bt Sri Lanka `B' (11.5) 3-1 (J. Rajasurya bt D.I.S. Siriwardane, S. Nishanth bt A. Fernando, Dyani Dave bt M. Jayawardane, Kajri Choksi lost to L. Radil); Sri Lanka `A' (14.5) bt South Africa (11.5) 3-1; Malyasia (12.5) bt Sri Lanka `D' (9) 2.5-1.5; Australia (13.5) bt India `F' (8.5) 4-0 (Vincent Suttor bt S. Harini, Stojic Dusan bt V.K. Sindhu, James Cronan bt Shalmali Gagare, Ruperto Lugo bt R. Ganesh); Sri Lanka `C' (10.5) bt Sri Lanka `E' (5.5) 2.5-1.5.

Sixth round: Hungary drew with Iran 2-2; China bt India `B' 3-1 (Wang Hao bt Vijay, Zhou Jiancho bt Pratik, Xiu Desun lost to Negi, Li Chao bt Praveen); Kazakhstan bt India `A' 2.5-1.5 (Marat Alaguzov lost to Arun, D. Medirbaev drew with Gopal, D. Issabayev bt Nikhilesh Kumar, N. Baltabaev bt Abhay); Uzbekistan bt Turkey 3-1; India `D' bt India `E' 2.5-1.5 (Prasanna drew with Nishanth, Karthikeyan bt Meenu, Narayanan drew with Dhyani, Rajadarshini drew Kajri); India `C' bt Australia 3.5-0.5 (Soumya bt Suttor, Sriram bt Dusan, Priyadrashan drew with Cronan, Raghavi bt Lugo, Sri Lanka `B' bt South Africa 2.5-1.5; Sri Lanka `A' bt Sri Lanka `C' 3.5-0.5; Malaysia bt India `F' 2.5-1.5 (Anas Nzreen Bakri drew with Harini, Soon Wai Cheong lost to Sindhu, Zarul Zullkafli bt Impana, Nur Zullkafli bt Shalmali); Sri Lanka `D' bt Sri Lanka `E'.

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