2018 World Juniors: Abhimanyu Puranik eyeing for top honours.

GM Abhimanyu Puranik [Photo: Amruta Mokal/ ChessBase India]

Report by IM Ravi Teja

Gebze, Turkey: The World Juniors Chess Championship 2018 is closing to an end. In the Open section, after 9 rounds only GM Abhimanyu Puranik have the bright chances for the podium finish. He is in the joint second spot with 7 points, trailing behind him are GM Karthik Venkataraman and GM Narayanan S.L, with 6 points. GM Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran already has a huge lead of 1.5 points ahead of his competitors with 8.5/9.

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In the rounds 8 & 9, Abhimanyu created upsets defeating the second seed GM Van Foreest Jorden(NED) and GM Firouzja Alireza (IRI) respectively in a convincing way.

In the girls section, The medal chances are still alive in the form of WIM V.Varshini, who is in the joint second spot with 6.5/9. She won four games in a row. Special Mentions to her game in round 9 where she spectacularly defeated much higher opponent FM Antova Gabriela of FIDE.

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Other girls in the fray are Isha Sharma and WIM Sakshi Chitlange with 5.5/9

Open pairings: Round 10 on 14/09/2018 at 05:30pm.

BO.		NAME	RTG	FED	PTS	RES.	PTS		NAME	RTG	FED
1	GM	Maghsoodloo, Parham	2649	IRI	8½		7	IM	Vavulin, Maksim	2559	RUS
2	GM	Puranik, Abhimanyu	2524	IND	7		7	GM	Bai, Jinshi	2556	CHN
3	IM	Christiansen, Johan-Sebastian	2525	NOR	7		7	GM	Hakobyan, Aram	2554	ARM
4	FM	Gavrilescu, David	2470	ROU	6½		6½	GM	Esipenko, Andrey	2593	RUS
5	GM	Liang, Awonder	2575	USA	6½		6½	IM	Lobanov, Sergei	2535	RUS
6	GM	Martirosyan, Haik M.	2597	ARM	6		6	GM	Santos Ruiz, Miguel	2524	ESP
7	FM	Lagunow, Raphael	2403	GER	6		6	GM	Firouzja, Alireza	2582	IRI
8	GM	Petrosyan, Manuel	2581	ARM	6		6	IM	Karthik, Venkataraman	2519	IND
9	GM	Tabatabaei, M.Amin	2576	IRI	6		6	IM	Thybo, Jesper Sondergaard	2499	DEN
10	GM	Sunilduth Lyna, Narayanan	2573	IND	6		6	IM	Sindarov, Javokhir	2484	UZB

Girls Pairings:Round 10 on 14/09/2018 at 05:30 pm.

BO.		NAME	RTG	FED	PTS	RES.	PTS		NAME	RTG	FED
1	WIM	Dordzhieva, Dinara	2318	RUS	7		7	FM	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	2371	RUS
2	WFM	Potapova, Margarita	2277	RUS	7		7	WGM	Tokhirjonova, Gulrukhbegim	2369	UZB
3	WFM	Nurgali, Nazerke	2080	KAZ	6½		7		Maltsevskaya, Aleksandra	2234	RUS
4	WIM	Varshini, V	2173	IND	6½		6½	WIM	Khomeriki, Nino	2313	GEO
5	IM	Tsolakidou, Stavroula	2393	GRE	6		6	WIM	Unuk, Laura	2299	SLO
6		Diakonova, Ekaterina	2243	RUS	6		6	IM	Nomin-Erdene, Davaademberel	2377	MGL
7	WIM	Zhu, Jiner	2364	CHN	6		6	WFM	Kanakova, Natalie	2201	CZE
8	WGM	Paramzina, Anastasya	2222	RUS	6		6	WGM	Hojjatova, Aydan	2356	AZE
9	WFM	Beydullayeva, Govhar	2202	AZE	5½		5½	FM	Gorti, Akshita	2315	USA
10	WFM	Serikbay, Assel	2125	KAZ	5½		5½	FM	Antova, Gabriela	2292	FID