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Indians In
Sole Lead In Four Sections
By Arvind Aaron
Round nine went the Indian way and our players regained
what they lost in round eight. Indians are leading and well placed to win
four world titles and are in joint lead in the Girls Under-18 section
through comeback queen Dronavalli Harika. Two rounds remain to be played
in this World Youth Chess Championship that is taking place at Batumi in
Georgia.
India's big gain on Thursday was in the Girls Under-10 section where
Andhra girls Sai Nirupama and Ch Sahajasri moved together to joint lead
with 7.5 points from nine rounds. Harika of Guntur also won her first game
in four rounds to make a comeback and share the lead in the Girls Under-18
section.
Under-10 section leader Girish Koushik (8.5/9) of Mysore played a draw in
the ninth round and this allowed Y.V.Chakravarthi (7) to close in on him
and cut the lead from two points to 1.5. Girish needs draw or win from the
Friday's penultimate round to win the title with a round to spare.
Ch Mohineesh of Visakhapatnam cemented his place in the lead in the World
Under-8 championship by stretching his lead to a full point with a crucial
victory. Lead changed hands in the Girls under-8 section but fortunately
it was between Indians and our players are in the top three placings with
two rounds to go.
Girls Group
Girls Under-18: Dronavalli Harika of Guntur scored her first victory in
the last four rounds to bounce back into joint lead. She scored with he
black pieces against Woman International Master Marta Przezdziecka of
Poland to reach seven points from nine rounds. Mary Ann Gomes also made a
comeback to reach the joint fourth place on six points.
Girls Under-16: India has lost medal chances in this section with Ramya
Krishna on 5.5/9 and Dhyani Dave on 5/9.
Girls Under-14: Lakshmi Sahithi is tied for the fourth pace with 6.5
points. Pon N.Krithikha is tied for the sixth place with six points but
has a chance to pull down leader Klaudia Kulon of Poland (7.5/9) whom she
faces in Friday's tenth round.
Girls Under-12: Top seed and Asian Under-12 champion Padmini Rout lost a
crucial game to leader Mariam Danelia of Georgia and also along with it
the chance of a world title this time. She is on six points from nine
games and has some medal chances.
Girls Under-10: Indians wrested the lead in this section with not one hand
but two. Sai Nirupama beat the leader on the top table with the black
pieces while National Under-9 champion Ch Sahajasri beat Ulviyya
Fataliyeva of Azerbaijan. Sai Nirupama and Sahajasri are leading this
section with 7.5/9 and face each other in a crucial penultimate round
clash on Friday.
Girls Under-8: If the event was a nine round Swiss India would have won
gold, silver and bronze. Mannepalli Navyavyshnavi (7.5/9) wrested sole
lead from Ivana Furtado (7) in an all-Indian clash in the
top board. M.Mahalakshmi is in joint third place with 6.5 points after she
beat Sweety Patel (6).
Boys Group
Open Under-18: G.Rohit and S.Arun Prasad have not been impressive in the
event and lost their ninth round games to stay on five points. Two wins
can only take them to the top ten.
Open Under-16: Indians have lost medal chances and both Chennai players,
S.P.Sethuraman and Aswin Jayaram are only playing for placings on 5/9.
Open Under-14: B.Adhiban of Chennai won and moved closer to the top where
he shares the fourth place with 6.5 points. He faces leader Levan Bragadze
of Georgia with the black pieces on Friday and will need a victory to stay
in the medal race.
Open Under-12: Unable to win any of his last three rounds, defending
champion N.Srinath of Chennai slipped from the top to share third-fourth
place with seven points from nine games. V.A.V.Rajesh, Sahaj Grover and
Fenil Shah are tied for the fifth place with 6.5 points.
Open Under-10: Girish Koushik finally played a draw to take his tally to
8.5 points from nine rounds. He leads this section by 1.5 points. He plays
white in the round ten game against Y.V.K.Chakravarti (7) who is in second
place. Nine players are tied for the third place with 6.5 points and it
includes five Indians: G.V.Sai Krishna, Sayantan Das, R.Eswar, Komiri
Vijaya Kanth and Shiven Khosla.
Open Under-8: Ch Mohineesh widened his lead to a full point with a round
nine victory over Manuel Petrosyan of Armenia. He is on 8.5 points from
nine games. One point below him in clear second place is Prince Bajaj on
7.5 points.
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Published on : 30.10.2006
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