| News |
Good day for India - S L Narayanan earns GM Norm, P V Nandhidhaa completes wim title requirements and Padmini Rout bounces back with a victory
16-year-old S L Narayanan has easily been the pick of the Indian players in display at the World Junior Chess Championship in progress at Hotel Hyatt Pune. In the 9th round today Narayanan today held compatriot and fourth seed Vidit Santosh Gujrathi to a draw and earned his first GM norm. In the Girls section, 18-year-old P V Nandhidhaa defeated Pratyusha Bodda in a dramatic way to make her third WIM norm and complete the requirements for her WIM title. Incidentally Pratyusha also made her WIM norm.
" My IM title was confirmed last month and this is my first GM norm" said the shy and soft spoken Narayanan while Nandhidhaa was visibly excited and gushed " I made my first two norms in 2011 and 2012 and then missed making my final norm on seven occasions. Today I was very lucky as my opponent blundered on the last move in a dead draw position."
On the top board Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated Ann Chumpitaz of Peru to shoot into sole lead with 7.5 points. Sarasadat Khademalsharieh is trailing half a point behind while Padmini, Dari Pustovoitova, Zhai Mo, Ann Chumpitaz and Anna Iwanow are bunched together with 6.5 points. Daria Pustovoitova also earned a WIM norm.
In the Open section the top board encounter between the two Chinese players Wei Ye and Lu Shanglei ended in a draw while top seed Fedoseev scored a victory over overnight joint leader Karen Grigoryan. Wei, Lu and Fedoseev are jointly leading with 7 points each. Eight players including Diptayan Ghosh and Aravindha Chithambaram of India are trailing just half a point behind the leaders.
The encounter between Bai Jinshi and Mikhail Antipov was one of the first ones to end in a draw. Jinshi with this draw has earned a 9 round Swiss League GM norm.
If Mae FraynaJanelle hoped to shock her opponent Padmini Rout with her choice of the 'Alekhine Defence' (which very rarely makes an appearance these days) on the very first move, then it was an effort wasted. " I had done my homework and realized she experiments with different Openings and to a certain extent I was expecting this Opening" smiled Padmini after shrugging off yesterday's loss and bouncing back with a victory.
Padmini Rout won a pawn in a tactical skirmish on the 20th turn which also saw the exchange of queens. Thereafter a flurry of exchanges followed and it appeared that despite an extra pawn, Padmini would really have to toil for a victory. Mae however failed to play accurately and ended on the losing side after 45 moves.
In a thrilling encounter between Anna Iwanow and Sarasadat Khademalsharieh in a Spanish Opening, Anna surprisingly sacrificed a bishop for a couple of pawns in the early stages of the Opening. Thereafter she tried to whip up a whirlwind attack even as both Kings stayed on their original squares without castling. Sarasadat's Kingside pawns were totally shattered but her queen, rook and bishop pair then launched a counter-offensive to win the game after 25 moves. " After the Opening inaccuracy, there was nothing much to do to win the game" said Sarasadat.
Four more rounds are remaining in this 13 round gruelling event sponsored by LIC and Government of Maharashtra and Amanora, ONGC, Jain Irrigation and Everstone are the Associate sponsors.
