Date:29/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/29/stories/2008102955901700.htm

Sport - Chess

Vidit, Sayantan, Padmini in lead

Manuel Aaron

Vung Tau (Vietnam): Vidit Gujrathi, Sayantan Das, Padmini Rout, B.Adhiban and Bodda Pratyusha became sole leaders in their respective sections after the ninth round of the World Youth Chess Championship here on Tuesday. Two more rounds remain.

Bodda Pratyusha of Visakhapatnam played the black pieces with great responsibility against Andrea Rodriguez of Colombia. She grabbed a pawn and then avoided all traps to wrap us the game quickly.

Sayantan Das of Kolkatta became outright leader in the under-12 section when he defeated Amir Kowsarinia of Iran with a brilliant finish.

Continuing good form

Padmini Rout continued her good form by playing patiently with the black pieces against host player Nguyen Thi Mai Hung.

Vidit Gujrathi with the black pieces struggled to hold Maxime Lagarde of France to a draw in the under-14 section.

In the under-8 girls’ section Bansi Pratima’s Vietnamese opponent Dong Khanh Linh did not know how to win with a queen against a rook and after many moves stalemated Bansi.

According to tournament regulations, from the ninth round onwards, players from the same country would not be paired. The rule came too late for the Indians as on the eighth round, there were many, many India-versus-India pairings. For example all the Indian sole leaders beat their compatriots: Padmini beat Mohana Priya, Vidit beat Srinath and Adhiban beat Sethuraman. And it happened at lower boards also.

Bright chances

The eighth round played on Monday, brightened our medal prospects in the u-10, 12 and 12 girls, apart from sections in which Indian players are already favourites.

Shiven Khosla drew with Yang Darwin of U.S. the leader in the u-12 section. Actually, Shiven had a winning game throughout but let Yang escape late in the ending. This enabled Sayantan Das to tie with Yang for the lead.

In the u-12 girls’ section, Pratyusha Bodda moved into joint lead with two other girls who defeated the previous joint leaders who were then half a point ahead.

Indian players with six points or more: Y.Grahesh, Diptayan Ghosh, S. Mahapatra, Shiven Khosla, Shardul Gagare, N.Srinath, Prince Bajaj, Debashis Das, K. Priyadarshan, S.P.Sethuraman, P. Karthikeyan, Bansi Pratima, G.K. Monnisha, N.G. Sneha, Ivana Furtado, Sunyasaktha Satpathy, M. Mahalakshmi, P.V. Nandhidhaa, Sonakshi Rathore, Teenu Thomas, Mohana Priya, Shalmali Gagare,

Important results (Round 9):

Boys: Under-10: Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Pol) 8 bt Lorpari Shahin (Ire) 6.5; Diptayan Ghosh 7 drew Alan Pichot (Arg) 6.5. Under-12: D. Gordievsky (Rus) 7 bt Yang Darwin (U.S.) 7; Kowsarinia Amir (IRI) 6 lost to Sayantan Das 8; Shiven Khosla 7 bt Bobby Cheng (NZ) 6; Le Tuan Minh drew with Shardul Gagare 6.5.

Under-16: A. Shimanov (Rus) 6.5 drew B. Adhiban 7.5; Gritsenko (Rus) 6.5 drew Duverbeyli (Aze) 6.5; Bregadze (Geo) 6.5 bt Debashis Das 6; Priyadarshan 6.5 drew Khamroev (Uzb) 6; S.P. Sethuraman 6 drew Grandelius (Swe) 6; Soors (Bel) 6.5 bt M. Shyam Sundar 5.5.

Girls: Under-8: Mammadzada (Aze) 7 lost to Abdumalik Zhansaya (Kaz) 8; Bansi Pratima 6.5 drew Dong Khanh Linh (Vie) 5.5; Under-10: Goryachkina (Rus) 8 bt Haussernot (Fra) 7; Vu Thie Dieu Ai (Vie) 7.5 bt M. Mahalakshmi 6. Under-12: Andrea Rodriguez (Col) 6.5 lost to B.Pratyusha 7.5; Zhai Mo (Chn) 7 drew Filiz Osmanodja (Ger) 7. Under-14: Andrea Rodriguez (Col) 6 lost to Padmini Rout 8.5; J. Mohana Priya 6 lost to Meri Arabitze (Geo) 7.5. Under-18: Zhorzholiani (Geo) 6 drew V. Golubenko (Cro) 8; R. Preethi 6.5 bt Girya Olga (Rus) 6;