Humpy claims World title

KOZHIKODE, AUG. 29. Koneru Humpy won the World junior girls' chess championship in Athens on Wednesday. The 14-year-old prodigy won her fourth World title after beating Germany's Elisabeth Paehtz in the 13th and final round, which was a must- win game for her. It is a grand double for Indian chess, and for Andhra, as Pendyala Harikrishna had won the Commonwealth championship in London jsut two days ago.

Humpy, who beat Olga Zimina of Russia in the 12th round, tied with China's Zha Xue with 9.5 points, but a better tie-break score gave her the title. S. Meenakshi and Aarthie Ramaswamy finished 11th and 12th respectively, while M. Kasturi was placed 37th.

Peter Acs of Hungary won the boys' championship outright with ten points. P. Magesh Chandran recorded the best placing among the Indian boys, finishing 13th, a creditable feat for someone seeded 44th in a strong field. Tejas Bakre, M.R. Venkatesh and K. Ratnakaran ended 24th, 45th and 53rd respectively.

* The final placings:

Boys: 1-2. Peter Acs (Hun) 10; 2-3. Merab Gagunashvili (Geo) and Levon Aronian (Arm) 9.5; 4. Ni Hua (Chn) 9; 5-11. Sergei Azarov (Blr), Bu Xiangzhi (Chn), David Izoria, Evgeny Shaposhnikov (Rus), Kamil Miton (Pol), Michael Roiz (Isr) and Adam Horvath (Hun), 8.5; 12-13. Gabriel Sargissian (Arm) and P. Magesh Chandran (Ind) 8. 24. Tejas Bakre (Ind) 7.5; 42. M.R. Venkatesh (Ind) 6.5; 55. K. Ratnakaran (Ind) 6.5.

Girls: 1-2. Koneru Humpy (Ind) and Zhao Xue (Chn) 9.5; 3.-4. Nadezhda Kosintseva (Rus) and Gu Xiaobing (Chn) 9; 5-8. Lilit Mkrtchian (Arm), Xu Yuanyuan (Chn) and Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) and Inga Charkhashvili (Geo) 8.5; 9-12. Sopiko Khukhashvili (Geo), S. Meenakshi (Ind) and Aarthie Ramaswamy (Ind) 8; 37. M. Kasturi (Ind) 5.

* Important results (ninth round):

Boys: Bu Xiangzhi (Chn) 9 lost yo Peter Acs (Hun) 10; Levon Aronian (Arm) 9.5 drew with Kamil Miton (Pol) 8.5; Ni Hua (Chn) 9 drew with Zviad Izoria (Geo) 8.5; Gabriel Sargissian (Arm) 8 lost to Merab Gagunashvili (Geo) 9.5; Sergei Azarov (Blr) 8.5 drew with Adam Hrovath (Hun) 8.5.

Tejas Bakre (Ind) 7.5 lost to Evgeny Shaposhnikov (Russia); P. Magesh Chandran (Ind) 8 bt Nicholas Pert (Eng) 7; Dimitry Schnieder (US) 7.5 bt M.R. Venkatesh (Ind) 6.5; K. Ratnakaran (Ind) 6.5 drew with Dimitrij Bunzman (Ger) 6.5.

Girls: Zhao Xue (Chn) 9.5 drew with Nadezhda Kosintseva (Rus) 9; Inga Charkhalashvili (Geo) 8. 5 lost to Gu Xiaobing (Chn) 8.5; Koneru Humpy (Ind) 9.5 bt Elisabeth Paehtz (Ger) 8.

Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) drew with Lilit Mkrtchian (Arm) 8.5; Iweta Radziewicz (Pol) 8.5 bt Xu Yuanyuan (Chn) 7.5; Sopiko Khukhashvili (Geo) 8 drew with S. Meenkashi (Ind) 8; Aarthie Ramaswamy (Ind) 8 bt Yelena Gorlin (US) 7; Anita Hersvik (Nor) 6 bt M. Kasturi (Ind) 5.

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