|
Girish,
Mohineesh Wins World Titles
By Arvind Aaron
Girish A Koushik of Mysore and Ch. Mohineesh of Visakhapatnam won the
World Under-10 and Under-8 Chess Titles when they achieved the feat with a
round to spare at Batumi in Georgia on Friday. With two titles in the bag
already, India is poised to win two more sections and also several medals
when the final round concludes on Saturday.
Girish had a 1.5-point lead and required a draw for the title. He obtained
that with the white pieces against Y.V.K.Chakravarthi to take his tally to
nine points from ten games. Three players are in the second place with 7.5
points and it includes Chakravarthi and Komiri Vijaya Kanth. Girish is
trained by his father.
Mohineesh started as the 55th seed and won nine games and drew Prince
Bajaj also of India earlier. In the penultimate round he defeated Vahap
Sanal of Turkey with the black pieces. He reached an unassailable
total of 9.5/10. Prince Bajaj is in clear second place with 8.5 points but
the tie-break scores favour Mohineesh if it comes to that.
Indians suffered a setback in the Under-12 section with N.Srinath, Sahaj
Grover and V.A.V.Rajesh suffering defeats and losing title chances. In the
girls under-12 section Padmini Rout is in fourth place and requires a win
on Saturday for a medal.
"These big successes were possible due to the big support of the Sports
Ministry in the Central Government," said AICF Secretary D.V.Sundar in
Chennai today. He reminded that when the Government asked him how many
medals the AICF expected he said six. Now, with two titles on hand and two
more expected to come on Saturday, India is expected to cross the that
number clearly.
About Girish, Sundar said he (the Mysore boy) had sent his passport to the
wrong address in Delhi for visa processing and it was located at the last
minute. "His making the trip and winning destiny," he said.
N.Sanjay, a chess player from Income Tax, Mysore is accompanying the team.
In the Girls Under-10 section, Ch. Sahajasri of Karimnagar beat Sai
Nirupama of Ongole in the top board with the black pieces to take a one
point lead. Sahajasri (8.5/10) enjoys a one point lead but her
tie-break score is lower and would require at least a draw in the final
round to win the title.
India would expect medals and title from the Girls Under-8 section where
three of our players, Ivana Furtado (Goa), Mannepalli Navyavyshnavi (AP)
and M.Mahalakshmi (Chennai) are leading with 7.5 points. Four
players are tied for the fourth place on seven points and two of them are
Sweety Patel and Shoumi Mukherjee.
Dronavalli Harika of Guntur is sharing the lead in the Girls Under-18
section with Nargiz Umudova of Azerbaijan with 8/10. Harika has the higher
tie-break score but will have to match the result of Nargiz in
order to win the title. Harika had won the World Girls Under-14 title in
2004. Mary Ann Gomes is in fourth place and would be playing for a medal
on Saturday morning.
Back to index
home
Published on : 30.10.2006
|
