The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Harika, Tejeswani get pride of place

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 05, 2004

Sport

Sport - Chess

Harika, Tejeswani get pride of place

By Manuel Aaron

HERAKLIO (GREECE), NOV. 4 . Two Indians start as top seeds in this World Youth Chess Festival. While Dronavalli Harika is top seed in the World Under-14 Girls Championship, Tejeswini Reddy Suratecar is No 1 in the Under-10 Girls. Having arrived here sufficiently in advance, the Indians are in good fettle to try for medals.

At the Captains' meeting of the World Youth Chess Festival this morning, Grandmaster Ian Rogers of Australia asked what penalty would be given to a player who is found talking with others when his game is on. The Chief Arbiter of the Festival, Panagiotus Nikolopoulos answered that it would be the loss of a game at the most. A player needing to talk with anybody would have to get the permission of the Arbiter and conduct the conversation in a language known to the Arbiter in his presence. He also said that if any player's cell phone rings he will automatically lose the game, without any exception.

Spectators whose phones ring would be ejected from the tournament hall and not be readmitted again.

The organisers required delegates of all the participating countries to submit the passports of their players tomorrow morning for an age check. This is the first time that ages of players are being checked in this festival. They also said that ten computers are available for all participants to freely check their Emails.

Nearly 1,050 players will be making their first moves this evening at 4:30 p.m to win ten coveted world titles in the categories of under-10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 for boys and girls separately.

This is a 11-round Swiss which will conclude on the November 13. Everyday, the games will

begin at 4:30 p.m. (8 p.m. IST). Games can last beyond 9:30 p.m. as the time control is 90 minutes main time and 30s increment for every move made for both players of a game. There are two rounds a day on Nov. 6 and 10. Nov. 9 is a free day for sightseeing.

World Junior Girls Champion Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia is playing in the under-18 boys category. Girls playing in the boys' events are nothing new as the Polgars have done this long back at Singapore.

Dzagnidze and Koneru Humpy had dominated the age category world championships for the past few years taking the gold or silver medals in turn. With a rating of 2484, Dzagnidze is seed No. 5 in this boys' championship.

Though from Kuwait, Gutta Sirisha with no FIDE-Rating has been listed in the under-10 girls category under India. There are totally 14 boys and 13 girls playing under the Indian flag.

Gayatri, a girl from Dallas, USA, is here playing under the US flag. A few other players of Indian origin may also be playing for different countries.

Girls U-10: Tejesini Reddy (2048), J. Mohana Priya (1829), Gutta Sirisha, U-12: Lakshmi Sahithi (1996), G. Madanasri (1960), Devangi Patankar (1920). U-14: D. Harika (2391), Lakshmi Praneetha (2042), Anjanaa Sowjanyaa (1957), Kajri Choksi (1956). U-16: Mary Ann Gomes (2183). U-18: N. Vinutna (2229), M. Rajadarshini (2029).

Boys U-10: N. Srinath (2042), G. Madhukiran (2012), Prasanna Rao (1993), K. Sanjoy Singh. U-12: Parimarjan Negi (2267), Y. Sandeep (2138), S. Ravi Teja (2075). U-14: D. Sai Srinivas (2237), Sankalp Modwal (2028), Sanchit Chauhan. U-16: S. Arun Prasad (2367), Deep Sengupta (2359), G. Rohit (2281). U-18: K. Nikhilesh Kumar (2240).

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