Mary Ann Gomes In Sole Lead
By Arvind Aaron

Mary Ann Gomes of Kolkata is pulling the Indian spirits up by leading the World Girls Under-18 Championship at Antalya in Turkey on Thursday. Mary is on six points from six rounds and with five rounds still to go she enjoys a one point lead. Friday is a free day.

Indians have previously done well in this Girls Under-18 section. Aarthie Ramaswamy won this section in 1999 and Dronavalli Harika had won it at Batumi last year. However, most Indians in the higher boards slipped from good starts on Thursday.

In the past, Indians turned around and emerged stronger during double rounds days. This time it has not been the case.

Under-18: Dasari Sai Srinivas of Vijayawada is tied for the 14th place with 4/6 and our higher rated IM Gogineni Rohith is on 3.5 points.

Under-16: A win and a draw for Adhiban, two wins for Ashwath and a defeat and a win for S.Nitin is what happened on the double round day. Adhiban and Ashwath are tied for the 16th place with 4/6 and Nitin is on 3.5. Arbiter in this section is Rathinam Anantharam of Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu.

Under-14: Russia's IM Sanan Sjugirov is in lead with 5.5/6 but there are three Indians including top seed IM S.P.Sethuraman of Chennai in the joint second place on five points. The other two are: Vidit Gujrathi of Nasik and Prasanna Rao of Mumbai. Sethuraman drew Sjugirov with the black in the sixth round. A further half point behind is Mehar Chinna Reddy on 4.5.

Under-12: Two Indians, G.V.Sai Krishna of Vijayawada and Sahaj Grover of Delhi are tied for the tenth place with 4.5/6. Shiven Khosla is on four and Fenil Shah is on 3.5. Sai Krishna lost to an unrated Chinese while Sahaj won against a Polish player in the sixth round.

Under-10: Prince Bajaj of Delhi is in clear second place with 5.5/6. Wang Tong Sen of China is in lead with 6/6. Other Indians: Vaibhav Suri, Shardul Gagare, Ch Mohineesh are on 4.5 each.

Under-8: Jerome Jorge Ebenezer and Harshal Shahi are on five points from six rounds and are tied for the fourth place, one point behind the leader. Arjun Bharat, Shivam Srivastav and G.V.Revanth Reddy are on four points each.

Girls Section:

Under-18: Mary Ann Gomes of Kolkata has taken a one point lead with 6/6. Form and momentum are behind her while she could be a shade tired. Remember that she played 11 games at Pune ending Nov 15. Kiran Mohanty lost back-to-back rounds four and five and then won round six to reach four points and share the eleventh place.

Under-16: The Indians are slowly losing ground here with Bhakti Kulkarni and Pon N.Krithikha on 4/6, tied for the 14th place. Mitali Patil is on 3.5 and P.Uthra is on 3.

Under-14: J.Mohana Priya of Chennai slipped from lead with 4/4 to tied seventh place on 4.5/6 after a defeat and a draw. Shalmali Gagare is also on 4.5 points and N.L.V.Anusha is on four points.

Under-12: Winning both games on Thursday, last year's National Under-11 champion Priyanka Kumari of Jharkhand is on five points from six games and is tied for the fourth place. Other Indians: J.Vaishnavi and B.Pratyusha are on four points.

Under-10: Indians have lost ground in this section and might even miss medals. Three of them are on 3.5/6 and they are: G.Aishwarya, U.Ashwini, M.Mahalakshmi.

Under-8: C.H.Meghna of Kerala shocked defending champion Ivana Furtado of Goa in the fifth round and then lost the next round. Both Meghna and Ivana are tied for the third place on 4.5 points. Asian players are ahead: Nguyen Thanh Thuy Tien (Vie, 6/6) and Zhansaya Abdumalik (Kaz, 5/6).
 

Photo gallery

Ivana Wins, Keeps Lead

Ivana Furtado Moves Into Lead

Vidit Gujrathi Wrests Slender Lead

Vidit Joins Lead In Boys Under-14

Four Indians Among Leaders

Indians Share Lead In Seven Sections

Indians Among Leaders In Ten Sections

More news - WYCC

Home                                                Published: 23rd November, 2007