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Lu Shanglai and Aleksandra Goryachkina won the World Junior Chess titles!
Lu Shanglai of China won the World Junior Chess title by defeating Aleksander Indjic of Serbia. In the girls section Aleksandra Goryachkina had successfully defended her title with a round to spare yesterday.
FROM L TO R ANIRUDDHA DESHPANDE - CHAIRMAN, ORGANISING COMMITTEE, WORLD JUNIOR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP, VENKATRAMA RAJA - PRESIDENT AICF, ALEKSANDRA GORYACHKINA, HER EXCELLENCY, EX PRESIDENT OF INDIA, SMT PRATIBHA PATIL, LU SHANGLEI, ASHOK JAIN, PRESIDENT-MCA AND RAVINDRA DONGRE, CHAIRMAN, MAHARASHTRA CHESS ASSOCIATION AT THE GRAND FINALE OF LIC WORLD JUNIOR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2014 IN PUNE.
Intense, exciting tussles on the top boards yielded just one decisive result - Lu Shanglei of China defeating Aleksander Indjic of Serbia, which was enough to crown him the World junior Chess title at Hotel Hyatt, Pune. In the final 13th round, the race for the title was wide open with four players Wei Yi of China, Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland, Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia and Lu Shangleiu, in contention for the title as all were overnight joint leaders with 9 points.
There was a four way tie from second to fourth position where Wei Yi of China secured Silver, Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia bagged bronze while Duda Jan Krzysztof was a trifle unfortunate to go without a medal, finishing fourth after the resolution of the tie-break by the Bucholz system. All four players had scored 9.5 points. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi was the best Indian finisher with 9 points and was placed fifth. Shardul Gagare was the best performer from Maharashtra and was awarded the Pune Mayor Cup in the Open section.
In the Girls section 16-year-old Alexandra Goryachkina had successfully defended her title with a round to spare yesterday and today settled for a short draw against Anna Iwanova to raise her points tally to 11. Ann Chumpitaz of Peru also drew against Sarvinoz Kurbonboeva while Sarasadat Khademalsharieh of Iran defeated Srija Seshadri of India to bag the bronze, both tallying 9.5 points each. After the tie-breaks Sarasadat secured the Silver medal and Chumpitaz had to settle for the bronze.
Padmini Rout was the best Indian finisher with 9 points and was placed fourth. Rucha Pujari was the winner of the Pune Mayor's Trophy for Girls as the best performer from Maharashtra.. Today Padmini scored a quick victory over Marina Brunello of Italy. Srija Seshadri had scored 8/11 but lost the last two rounds to finish tenth.
Both Lu Shanglei and Aleksandra Goryachkina earned a qualification slot for the World Cup 2015 for Open and Women respectively. The World Cup is a part of the World Championship Cycle. Both players also received a cash Prize of Rs 1,50000 each. The silver Medalists were richer by RS 100000 each and the bronze medallists by Rs 50000.
This 13 round gruelling Swiss League event was sponsored by LIC and Government of Maharashtra and Amanora, ONGC, Jain Irrigation and Everstone were the Associate sponsors. There were 132 players from 51 countries in fray while the Girls section had 77 players.
The encounters between Wei and Krzysztof was a hard fought Italian game lasting 57 moves before fizzling into a draw. Top seed Fedoseev could not also make much headway and had to settle for a draw after 40 moves. Shanglei opted for the Dutch Defence against Indjic and appeared heading for trouble in the initial stages with Indjic playing positively and aggressively. However White lost way, failed to keep the momentum, did not castle and watched helplessly as Black's pieces (Knight, queen and rook ) infiltrated decisively to weave a check-mating net.
