Indians consolidate their positions

Indians consolidate their positions
By lakshmi Priyaa TT, FIDE Instructor

Indian team stabilized their position by increasing win counts at the end of 4thround of the World Youth Chess Championship 2016 at Khanty –Mansiysk, Russia. Team registered 12 wins, 1 draw and suffered 5 losses.

Akanksha, Priyanka and Tarun are playing steady by continuing their winning spree.
Tarun seems to have a liking for offbeat openings and uncompromising – double edged play! Yesterday, playing black he had replied with b6 as his 1st move while today playing white, he started with b3. Of course, opening is just a starting point of the game and the real battle shapes up in middle game. By move 24 the position was quite complicated as Tarun had a passed pawn on c file and it was almost a winning position for him. His higher rated opponent – Quirhuayo Chumbe German Gonza from Peru was attacking Tarun’s King ferociously and actually had a perpetual check possibility at his disposal. However, Quirhuayo overestimated his attacking chances by sacrificing a Rook. Tarun, calculated precisely and decided to take his King out and that too in Black’s camp! It was a thrilling encounter and when Tarun put his King on b6 square – his opponent extended his hand for resignation in a true sportsman spirit!

Aashna had her 14th birthday yesterday but her gift was delivered today – in the form of a smooth win over WFM Zahedifar Aashna from Iran, who was 200 points ahead of Aashna in rating. Aashna replied with solid and sound Queen’s Gambit Declined variation in reply to Anahita’s Queen pawn opening. Both followed theory till move 10 and here Aashna sacrificed her Knight for a pawn – hoping to trap Black’s Queen. This is indeed a well-known trap but it occurs after another 3 moves when both sides have castled and black has placed her Rook on e8! Aashna gladly accepted the gift, then freed her Queen by giving a check with her Bishop. Thereafter, it was just a winding up process left for Aashna which she did in a clinical manner! The game was over in 35 moves.

IM Krishna Teja recorded his third consecutve win today, after losing his first round. Krishna’s continuous wins will definitely send a shrill down his possible oponents and is a real motivation for the Indin team to see him back in form.

In Under 14 G & Under 16 G categories, respectively, Priyanka and Aakanksha will take on challenging opponents in the following round who are on a full score, 0.5 point ahead of them. Watch them in action live on top boards!
Results of Indian Players for the day: Round 4

Under 18 Open:
7. IM Bellahcene Bilel (2483) FRA 2 Lost to 2 IM Krishna Teja N (2268) IND; 15. WIM VaishaliR (2295) IND 1½Beat1½ FM Marek Matyas (2381) CZE; 19. FM Rajdeep Sarkar (2347) IND 1½ 1½Sadubayev Airat (2231) KAZ

Under 18 Girls:
7.WIM Mahalakshmi M (2221) IND 2 Beat 2Uktamova Marjona (1542) UZB;24. Yolal Sena Gokcen (1737) TUR ½ Lost to½ Toshali V (1766) IND

Under 16 Open:
15 FM Mitrabha Guha (2286) FM 22 FM Kevlishvili Robby (2402) NED; 26. Lintner Igor (2065) SVK 1 Lost to 1 IM Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari (2451) IND

Under 16 Girls:
4. WCMGundogan Sinem Cagla (1933) TUR 2½ 2½ Aakanksha Hagawane (2183) IND; 14. Priyanka K (2205) 1½Beat1½Zairbek Kyzy Begimay (1836) KGZ

Under 14 Open:
2. Bharambe Bhavik C (2104) IND 3 Lost to 3FMLomasov Semen(2393) RUS; 11. Tarun V Kanth (1954) IND 2 Beat 2FMQuirhuayo Chumbe German Gonza (2255) PER; 18. Neelash Saha(2020) IND 1½ Lost to1½ FM Peng David T (2273) USA

Under 14 Girls:
4. Koroleva Evgeniya (1970) RUS 2½ 2½ WFMSalonika Saina (2093) IND; 5. Grigorieva Yulia (1923) RUS 2½ Lost to 2½ Priyanka Nutakki (2070) IND, 6. WIM Wang Annie (2013) USA 2½ Beat2½Vantika Agrawal (2012) IND; 7. WFM Mishra Anwesha (1819) IND 2Lost to 2FMAntova Gabriela (2253) BUL; 10. WFMZahedifar Anahita (2081) IRI2 Lost to2Makhija Aashna (1830) IND

Know your team member: More about Tarun V Kanth
‘Appearances are deceptive’, Tarun V Kanth, shy and quiet as he appears is actually a dynamite on the board, Chennai spark, Tarun is a 10th std student of St Johns English School & Junior College, Besant Nagar, Chennai.

‘My initiation into chess was interesting.’ says Tarun with a smile.. reminiscing nostalgic moments of childhood. At the age of 8 his mother found him busy and preoccupied with the chess pieces at a hobby club at Kotturpuram where his sister used to learn dance and he used to wait for 2 hours until her classes would complete. The club used to impact basic chess lessons for older kids. Amazed by his involvement with the Black & White chessmen, Tarun’s mom enrolled him with FM Vinoth Kumar at KQ Chess Academy at Koturpuram and trained under his guidance for 3 years. His interest grew and his hunger for the game increased multifold and in 2012, he transitioned to Chess Gurukul in their ‘B’ Group.

Tarun has now graduated to their ‘D’ group and has been training under GM RB Ramesh for the last 2 years. His has played strong in various state level championships and his most recent notable win was Silver (tied for Gold) at TN State Under 13 Championship. World Youth is Tarun’s second consecutive international exposure after Common Wealth Chess Championship 2016 that happened at Srilanka.

Apart from chess, Tarun loves to be with his books and is very fond of Harry Potter…and ‘Half Blood Prince’ is his favorite title.