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Negi
Goes Down 7-11 To Lahno
By Arvind Aaron
The Amity Grand Master Chess Challenge ended in an anti-climax for the
sponsors. Parimarjan Negi's sponsors, Amity put up Rs.5 lakh on the table
with Rs.3 lakh going to the winner and Rs.2 lakh to the loser. The higher
rated Negi surprisingly went down 7-11 losing in each of the three
segments of the game.
Kateryna Lahno, the 17-year old Ukrainian girl walked home richer by
Rs.300,000, with some Elo and a memorable match title as Christmas
presents from Delhi as the event ran from Dec 18-25. Lahno won the six
rating games 3.5-2.5, the rapid games 4-2 and the blitz by 3.5-2.5.
Negi pulled off some face saving wins in the rapid and blitz games as it
looked close to being one sided contest. Lahno played well and was the
better of the two. Though rated 2459, she performed at 2615 in the match.
The favourite Negi who was expected to walk through by his Delhi fans,
held the higher Elo of 2538 but played at 2381 to lose.
At 13, Negi has a lot to learn from chess and match play. One has to be
reminded that in the Corus Grand Master Group C at Wijk aan Zee, three of
his opponents will be women and they will be encouraged by this result of
Lahno at Delhi. Negi plays in the Group C and Viswanathan Anand defends
his title in the Group A next month in the Netherlands.
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Published on :
30th
Dec, 2006
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