The Hindu : Rajasurya and Ravi Teja add to India's glory

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 14, 2003

Sport

Sport - Chess

Rajasurya and Ravi Teja add to India's glory

By P.K. Ajith Kumar

KOZHIKODE JUNE 13. The Vietnamese are known for their fighting spirit. Didn't they embarrass even the mighty United States, handling them that rare defeat in war way back in 1975?

On a wet Saturday, as the monsoon finally picked up momentum, it was the turn of the little Vietnamese warriors on the chessboard to prove their country's doggedness. And they did it rather well too, picking up five medals and thus preventing India from making a complete mockery of the Asian youth chess championship at Hotel Asma Tower.

The Indians still finished with 13 medals, out of the possible 18, but they were looking capable of more when the day dawned. Interestingly, no country other than India and Vietnam featured in the medal list.

The host proved its undisputed supremacy in the continent in these age-groups, clinching five of the six gold at stake. J. Rajasurya and Ravi Teja are the new champions from India. G. Rohit, in the boys' under-14 section, Lakshmi Praneetha (girls' under-12) and Lakshmi Sahithi (girls' under-10) had given India three gold on Friday itself.

Madurai-based Rajasurya, the find of the tournament, won the girls' under-14 gold following a quick draw with N. Raghavi, as she scripted an incredible success story within a space of a week. She finished with 5.5 points, and was in fact the only medal winner for India in her category. The two Vietnamese girls, Luong Nhat Linh and Pham Bich Ngoc, won the silver and bronze respectively, with five points each.

Ravi Teja, from Eluru in Andhra, wasn't everybody's favourite to win the boys' under-10 title either. In a surprisingly well fought competition, he came a clear first, beating N. Srinath in the final round. He scored 5.5 points.

The pre-tournament hot favourite in this section, Parimarjan Negi, found out that even pure luck wasn't on his side, as he loss the silver on toss to K. Priyadarshan. There was no way to break the tie between the two boys: the points (five), the progressive scores, the `cut' progressive scores...everything was equal. And when the two met across the board, in the fifth round, they had drawn too.

Le Quang Liem was the odd one out among the champions, as the boys' under-12 turned out to be one event that India could not win. The top seed from Vietnamese struck gold, his first in international meets, after drawing with R. Ashwath in 36 moves of Dutch Defence. He finished with 5.5 points, the same as Y. Sandeep, but a better progressive score gave him the gold. Sandeep took the silver while the bronze went to K. Narayanan. They had drawn their top board game in 11 moves.

Abhijeet Gupta, who finished with 5.5 points after beating G.N. Gopal, won the boys' under-14 silver, while the bronze went to top seed Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, who was held to a draw by D. Sai Srinivas. The Vietnamese scored five points.

The girls' under-12 silver was won by I. Ramya Krishna and the bronze by Ngo Die Hoa of Vietnam. In the girls' under-10, Rucha Pujari claimed the silver and V. Chaitanya the bronze.

The Kerala Minister for PWD, M.K. Muneer, gave away the prizes.

The results (seventh round; Indians unless specified):

Boys:

Under-14: G. Rohit 5 drew with Rahul Sangma 5; Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Vie) 5 drew with D. Sai Srinivas 5; Abhijeet Gupta 5.5 bt G.N. Gopal 4.5; Vishal Shah 4 drew with Nur Sultan Baltabayev (Kaz) 4; M. Suraj 4.5 bt R. Premnath 3.5; Toufighi Tamijani Homayon 4.5 bt G. Balachadar 3.5; P. Saravana Krishnan 3 lost to bt K. Vijay Keerthi 4; T.U. Naveen Kanna 4 bt P. Karthikeyan 3; R. Srinivasan 4 bt T.V. Vijaya Raghavan 2.5; Behmardi Kalantari Rostam (IRI) 3.5 bt I.T. Palawatta (Sri) 2.5; Aswin Jayaram 3.5 bt Akshay Bhor 2.5; Ankit Chauhan 2 lost to Nguyen Viet Chung 3; V. Sandeep 2 lost to K.V. Venprakash 3; Sachit Chauhan 2 lost to Aman Chahal 2.5.

Under-12: Y. Sandeep 5.5 drew with K. Narayanan 5; R. Ashwath 4.5 drew with Le Quang Liem (Vie) 5.5; P.P. Prachura 4.5 drew with Rollan Mankeyev (Kaz) 4.5; B. Adhiban 4 drew with Navneeth Sharma 4; S. Nitin 3 lost to B. Adithya 4; Amogh Kamli 4 bt Sankalp Modwal 3; Abhishek Kelkar 4 bt R. Mahudeeswaran 3; Swapnil Shah 3 drew with Yuzvendra Chahal 3; Shakthi Ediweera (Sri) 1.5 lost to R. Adithya Vikas 3.5; Abhishek Ravi 1.5 lost to P. Sai Sashank 3; S. Karthikeyan 2 lost to Mofathami Mohammed Reza (IRI) 3.

Under-10: Parimarja Negi 5 drew with S.P. Sethuraman 5; S. Ravi Teja 5.5 bt N. Srinath 4.5; Viani Antonio D'Cunha 5 drew with K. Priyadarshan 5; Sanjay Dhaval 4.5 bt Fenil Shah 4; Mirzaei Saleh (IRI) 4 drew with Koohestani Mohammed Azad Shahin (IRI) 4; Omkar Davate 4.5 bt Udesi Aditya 3.5; Chua Zheng Yuan Terry (Sng) 4 bt Wong Tsui Hern Daryl (Sng) 3.5; Sahaj Grover 4 bt Shiven Khosla 3; G. Madhukiran 4 A. Balkishen 3; Oshadhi Varunajith Kottarachchi 3 drew with Christer Jon Alpin 3; Lam Thanh Nhon 2.5 lost to Vishal Thakre 3.5; M.A. Akila Hemal Ratnayake 3.5 bt R. Eswar 2; Hareesh Babu Kandi 3 bt Chan Yi Ren Daniel 1.5; Maksat Tuietayev (Kaz) 3 bt Fong Yip Siang (Mal) 1.5.

Girls:

Under-14: J. Rajasurya 5.5 drew with N. Raghavi 4.5; Luong Nhat Linh (Vie) 5 drew with Soumya Swaminathan 4.5; Pham Bich Ngoc (Vie) bt H.P. Pallavi Maiya 4.5; Saheli Nath 4 lost to S. Harini 4.5; Saba A. Mhate 4 bt Ketaki Kulkarni 3; Anjana N. Sowjanya 3.5 drew with Kiran Monisha Mohanty 3.5; Mary Ann Gomes 3 drew with V.K. Sindhu 3.5; Sia Xin Yun Suzanna 3.5 bt G. Pratheeka 2.5; Kajri Pradip Choksi 2 lost to H. Sowmya 3.5; S. Roshni 3 bt Yasoda Gamage (Sri) 1.5.

Under-12: Lakshmi Praneetha 7 bt Dhyani Dave 3; I. Ramya Krishna 6 bt M. Pragna Patvi 4; Pon. N. Krithika 4 drew with Manogna 4; P.K. Jayasree 3 lost to Ngo Die Hoa (Vie) 4.5; R. Aparna 4 bt Gayatri M. Velu 3; Dhara Gupta 3 lost to Bhakti Kulkarni 4; Mitali Patil 4 bt K.S. Ratnamanikyam 2.5; Indrani 1 lost to Ashvithi Wallawita 2.5.

Under-10: P. Lakshmi Sahithi 6 lost to Pranali Patil 4.5; Nguyen Ngoc Phuong Khanh (Vie) 4 lost to Rucha Pujari 5.5; V. Chaitanya 4.5 drew with J. Mohana Priya 3.5; V. Bhavana 4.5 bt Sai Nirupama Kotepally 3; Teenu Thomas Thaliyath 3.5 bt Kiruba H. Arasu 1; Rausha Abylkassymova (Kaz) 3.5 bt Adeline Gan Li Ling (Mal) 1; G. Sirisha 2 lost to C.H. Savetha 3.

The placings:

Boys:

Under-14: 1. Rohit 6, 2. Abhijeet 5.5, 3-5. Truong Son, Rahul and Sai Srinivas 5, 6-8. Toufighi, Gopal and Suraj 4.5, 8-13. Vijay, Navin, Baltabayev, Vishal Shah and Srinivasan 4.

Under-12: 1-2. Quang Liem and Y. Sandeep 5.5, 3. Narayanan 5, 4-6. Prachura, Ashwath and Mankeyev 4.5, 8-12. Abhishek, Adhiban, Adithya and Amogh 4.

Under-10: 1. Ravi 5.5, 2-5. Priyadarshan, Parimarjan, Sethuraman and Viani 5, 6-8. Srinath, Omkar and Dhaval 4.5, 9-14. Shahin, Fenil, Terry, Madhukiran, Sahaj and Mirzaei 4.

Girls:

Under-14: 1. Rajasurya 5.5, 2-3. Nhate Linh and Pham Bich 5, 4-7. Pallavi, Soumya Swaminathan, Raghavi and Harini 4.5, 8-9. Saheli and Saba 4.

Under-12: 1. Lakshmi Praneetha 7, 2. Ramya 6, 3. Die Hoa 4.5, 4-9. Bhakti, Manogna, Aparna, Mitali, Krithika and Pragna 4.

Under-10: 1. Lakshmi Sahithi 6, 2. Rucha 5.5, 3-5. Chaitanya, Pranali and Bhavana 4.5, 6-9. Mohana, Phuong Khanh, Teenu and Abylkassymova 3.5.

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