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Harikrishna Is World Junior Chess960 Champion
By Arvind Aaron in Mainz
Pentela Harikrishna of Gas Authority of India, Hyderabad won the Chess960
Junior World Championship on August 16 when he came from 0.5-3.5 behind to
beat Arkady Naiditch of Germany by 4.5-3.5 in a dramatic match.
Harikrishna won all four games in the second day to baffle his
Dortmund-based opponent. Chess960 is promoted by Hans-Walter Schmitt,
organiser of this Chess Classic Festival. The idea is that it kills known
chess theory and enhances originality. It is of course the idea of who
else but Bobby Fischer. The match was so exciting that Naiditch, winner of
the 2005 Dortmund Tournament had a winning position in the final game but
fumbled and lost on the clock. Harikrishna said he enjoys Chess960 games
and had qualified for this competition last year. Why Chess960? Since the
last row of the chess pieces in a regular chess board is randomly shuffled
and both players have an identical yet unknown position. Arriving early at
the board, sleeping well and preparing less are the secrets to doing well
in Chess960. Harikrishna, 20, is growing in the shadow of the legend
Viswanathan Anand is and he is known by the well known chess players. Next
year, Harikrishna should normally be invited to defend his title but what
age criteria the organisers have is not clear. He hopes to return here for
the third year in 2007.
Published on 21.08.2006
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