Date:27/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/27/stories/2007112757712100.htm

Sport - Chess

Sethuraman loses to Belous; Vidit Gujrathi in joint lead

Manuel Aaron

Mary Ann struggling against Betul Yildiz

Antalya: Mary Ann Gomes was struggling against Betul Yildiz of Turkey in the eighth round of the World Youth chess championship here on Sunday.

Mary sacrificed her rook for knight and pawn. With queens still on the board, she has a difficult task ahead.

S.P. Sethuraman, India’s best bet in the under-14 section, blundered away a piece in time trouble and lost. Three more rounds remain.

On Saturday night, Vidit Gujrathi scored an important victory to reach six points and shared the lead with Sjugirov of Russia.

The leader in the girls’ under-8 category, T.T.T. Nguyen, was beaten in the previous round and C.H. Meghna, just half-a-point behind her, was paired with the Vietnamese in this round.

Meghna lost a bishop through a pin and missed a good opportunity to take the lead. However, Ivana Furtado won and is likely to meet the Vietnamese in the next game.

Important results (eighth round): Boys: Under-10: R.G. Elgin (Tur) lost to Ch Mohineesh 5.5; Vladimir Ninko (Rus) lost to Girish Koushik 5.

Under-12: Shiven Khosla 6 bt D.H. Fernandez (Sin); A. Kowsarinia (Iran) bt Fenil Shah 4.5.

Under-14: V. Belous (Rus) 6.5 bt S.P. Sethuraman 5.5; S. Grigoriev (Rus) 6 bt Prasanna Rao 5; Atishay Ajmera 4.5 drew with N. Neskovs (Lat). Under-16: M. Yilmaz (Tur) bt S. Nitin 4.5; B. Adhiban 4.5 drew with M. Demidov (Rus); V.A.V. Rajesh 4 lost to D. Lomsadze (Geo). Under-18: Peter Kokol (Slo) bt M.R. Lalith Babu 4.

Girls: Under-8: T.T.T. Nguyen (Vie) 6 bt C.H. Meghna 5.5; Ivana Furtado 6.5 bt Buse Vatansever (Tur).

Under-10: Mirakla Mithran (Aus) lost to M. Mahalakshmi 5.5; Ming Wei Xu (Chn) bt G. Aishwarya 4.5.

Under-12: J. Vaishnavi 5.5 bt P. Vujnovic (Cro). Under-14: Shalmali Gagare 6 bt I. Purgar (Cro); Mohana Priya 5.5 bt L. Abuladze (Rus); N.L.V. Anusha 5.5 bt H. Khalaji (Iran).

Under-16: Mitali Patil 4 lost to Salome Khazhomia (Geo).

Under-18: Kiran Mohanty 4 lost to Y. Chirvi (Col); A. Guttierrez Mancilla (Mex) lost to R. Preethi 5.