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World Jr Chess: India's Narayanan, Rout stay unbeaten after 7 rounds

October 13, 2014 17:46 IST

Padmini Rout

Padmini Rout

Padmini Rout is well-placed along with four foreigners atop of the points’ table after seven rounds in the LIC World Junior Chess Championships, being played at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune.

With six rounds left in the tough 13-round Swiss league event, the players in both sections are tightly bunched, making the hunt for the title quite open. 

In the boys’ section the story is entirely different, the super Grandmasters (Elo above 2600) failing to dominate the event as expected.

In fact, the lesser-fancied and lower-rated players have stolen the limelight, the most prominent among them being India’s S L Narayanan.

Jorge Cori of Peru is sole leader with six points, while Narayanan, China's Wei Yi and Lu Shanghlei, and Armenia's Karen Grigoryan are hot on his heels, half a point behind.

Vidit Santosh Gurjarthi, bronze medallist in the last edition and India’s highest rated player in fray, got bogged down by draws, and defeat in the sixth round has seriously jeopardised his chances.

S L Narayanan

S L Narayanan

Both Padmini and Narayanan remain unbeaten in their respective sections, but the pace of the event has definitely slowed down in terms of scoring percentage.

Scoring outright victories in both sections is difficult and there were no easy draws. Each half point has had to be earned.

Ivana Maria Furtado and P V Nandhidhaa were impressive in the girls’ section amongst the Indians thus far.

Amongst the super GMs, Cori showed both aggressive as well as defensive skills while Yi was steady.

Top seed Vladimir Fedoseev, ranked in the top 100 in the world, has struggled while second seed Robin van Kampen and fourth seed Vidit appeared to have been frustrated by numerous draws and both dropped a point, courtesy blunders.

Aravindha Chithambaram and Diptayan Ghosh trail by a point behind the leader and are also in with a chance.

Predictions to point out the eventual winner are difficult to make at this stage as the general strength of the tournament has risen over the years. A more visibly evident point is the fact that many of the talented players are under-rated.

Standings after seven rounds:

Girls’ section: 

Rank

 

Name

IRtg

FED

Pts

1

FM

Pustovoitova Daria

2354

RUS

2

WGM

Padmini Rout

2331

IND

3

WGM

Goryachkina Aleksandra

2430

RUS

4

WIM

Chumpitaz Ann

2201

PER

5

WIM

Iwanow Anna

2279

POL

6

WGM

Khademalsharieh Sarasadat

2366

IRI

5

7

WIM

Ivana Maria Furtado

2165

IND

5

8

 

Nandhidhaa Pv

2174

IND

5

9

 

Gelip Ioana

2154

ROU

5

10

FM

Brunello Marina

2275

ITA

5

11

WIM

Ibrahimova Sabina

2271

AZE

12

WIM

Zhai Mo

2339

CHN

13

WFM

Petrukhina Irina

2218

RUS

14

WIM

Frayna Janelle Mae

2140

PHI

15

WIM

Nguyen Thi Mai Hung

2299

VIE

16

WIM

Gu Tianlu

2055

CHN

17

WFM

Pujari Rucha

2113

IND

18

 

Shweta Gole

1881

IND

19

WFM

Varshini V

2066

IND

20

WFM

Srija Seshadri

2099

IND

21

WFM

Sviridova Vlada

2069

RUS

4

22

 

Pratyusha Bodda

2078

IND

4

23

WFM

Monnisha Gk

2069

IND

4

24

IM

Arabidze Meri

2409

GEO

4

25

WFM

Saranya J

2107

IND

4

26 

WFM

Chitlange Sakshi

1827

IND

4

27

WFM

Zarkovic Mila

2136

SRB

4

28

WFM

Tarini Goyal

1868

IND

4

29

 

Monpeurt Cyrielle

2115

FRA

4

30

WIM

Ni Shiqun

2312

CHN

4

31

 

Madhurima Shekhar

2000

IND

4

32

 

Ivekovic Tihana

2122

CRO

4

33

 

Michelle Catherina P

2099

IND

4

34

WFM

Gueci Tea

2099

ITA

4

35

 

Potluri Supreetha

1738

IND

4

Open section: 

Rank

 

Name

IRtg

FED

Pts

1

GM

Cori Jorge

2612

PER

6

2

GM

Lu Shanglei

2533

CHN

3

GM

Wei Yi

2641

CHN

4

IM

Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan

2420

IND

5

GM

Grigoryan Karen H.

2591

ARM

6

GM

Fedoseev Vladimir

2661

RUS

5

7

GM

Antipov Mikhail Al.

2524

RUS

    5