Photo by Lennart Ootes
The World Juniors Chess Championship 2017 is closing to an end. In the Open section, after nine rounds two Indians are eyeing for top honors. Twelve-year-old IM Praggnandhaa R. is in the joint second spot, closely trailing behind him is GM Aravindh Chidambaram with a half-point margin. Grandmasters Aryan Tari (NOR) and Alekseenko Kirill (RUS) are jointly leading the tournament.
World’s youngest International Master Praggnandhaa R. made the nation proud by scoring his maiden GM norm. He drew against GM Alekseenko Kirill in the seventh round. Special mention goes for his game against American prodigy GM Awonder Liang.
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He will play against IM Lomasov Semen of Russia in the tenth round today.
Another Indian on the top boards is GM Aravindh Chidambaram.
In the Girls section, a podium finish for Indians looks dull. IM Abdumalik Zhansaya of Kazakhstan is maintaining top spot with 7.5 points. Closely followed by FM Yu Jennifer (USA) and WGM Tsolakidou Stavroula (GRE) with 7 points.
Pairings/Results
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 5 | GM | Tari Aryan | 2581 | 7½ | 7 | IM | Xu Xiangyu | 2543 | 21 | |||
| 2 | 7 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. | 2572 | 6½ | 7½ | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | 2563 | 11 | |||
| 3 | 26 | IM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2509 | 7 | 6½ | IM | Lomasov Semen | 2490 | 30 | |||
| 4 | 22 | GM | Tran Tuan Minh | 2538 | 6½ | 6½ | GM | Van Foreest Jorden | 2616 | 1 | |||
| 5 | 16 | GM | Petrosyan Manuel | 2554 | 6½ | 6½ | GM | Bai Jinshi | 2553 | 17 | |||
| 6 | 2 | GM | Oparin Grigoriy | 2606 | 6 | 6 | GM | Moroni Luca Jr | 2506 | 29 | |||
| 7 | 31 | IM | Gholami Aryan | 2483 | 6 | 6 | GM | Svane Rasmus | 2587 | 3 | |||
| 8 | 6 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | 2578 | 6 | 6 | GM | Salomon Johan | 2476 | 35 | |||
| 9 | 12 | GM | Martirosyan Haik M. | 2561 | 6 | 6 | GM | Gagare Shardul | 2482 | 33 | |||
| 10 | 32 | FM | Sorokin Aleksey | 2483 | 6 | 6 | GM | Vaibhav Suri | 2560 | 13 |
Pairings/Results
| Bo. | No. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | FED | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 11 | WGM | Tsolakidou Stavroula | GRE | 2340 | 7 | 7½ | IM | Abdumalik Zhansaya | KAZ | 2428 | 1 | |||
| 2 | 8 | IM | Nomin-Erdene Davaademberel | MGL | 2358 | 6½ | 7 | FM | Yu Jennifer | USA | 2321 | 13 | |||
| 3 | 10 | IM | Osmak Iulija | UKR | 2345 | 6½ | 6½ | WIM | Shuvalova Polina | RUS | 2386 | 5 | |||
| 4 | 44 | WGM | Paramzina Anastasya | RUS | 2123 | 6½ | 6½ | WIM | Obolentseva Alexandra | RUS | 2320 | 14 | |||
| 5 | 16 | WGM | Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegim | UZB | 2306 | 6 | 6 | WFM | Assaubayeva Bibisara | RUS | 2395 | 3 | |||
| 6 | 6 | WIM | Badelka Olga | BLR | 2374 | 6 | 6 | FM | Antova Gabriela | FID | 2257 | 21 | |||
| 7 | 24 | WIM | Uuriintuya Uurtsaikh | MGL | 2213 | 6 | 6 | WIM | Dordzhieva Dinara | RUS | 2295 | 18 | |||
| 8 | 20 | WIM | Terbe Julianna | HUN | 2263 | 5½ | 6 | WIM | Aakanksha Hagawane | IND | 2312 | 15 | |||
| 9 | 2 | IM | Khademalsharieh Sarasadat | IRI | 2419 | 5½ | 5½ | WIM | Injac Teodora | SRB | 2244 | 22 | |||
| 10 | 43 | WFM | Kanakova Natalie | CZE | 2134 | 5½ | 5½ | Zhu Jiner | CHN | 2363 | 7 |
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