Round 8 report of World Youth Chess Championship, Italy 2023

U18 Open:

India had a poor day in terms of the results of the 8th Round of the World Youth Chess Championship here in Motesilvano, Italy. On the 1st board of the U18 category a high-rated Russian IM Aleksey Grebnev defeated India’s IM ILAMPARTHI, A R in a very crucial match. Grebnev, who is playing under the FIDE flag has thus extended his lead to one full point and is expected for a top finish. In the Benko Gambit Grebnev displayed sound opening preparation and technique to convert advantage to outplay his opponent without allowing any chances.

On the second board, India’s Mayank Chakraborty suffered another loss to Kazakh International Master ANSAT, Aldiyar. In a topsy-turvy battle, Mayak lost in 39 moves with white pieces.

PRRANEETH, Vuppala (6 points) has recovered well after setbacks in the initial rounds but still he needs to win all his remaining games to keep chances of a podium finish.

U16 Open:

HARSH, Suresh is undefeated with 5.5 points and will be playing on the 6^th board in the 9^th round.

Amongst other Indians, S.Rohit and Arjun ADIREDDY are on 5 & 4.5 points respectively.

 U14 Open:

DAKSHIN Arun and Yash BHARADIA are on 6 points while DAAEVIK, Wadhawan, and Dhruv Thota are having on 5.5 points in their tally.

U-14 Girls:

Sneha Halder (5 points) with black pieces went down fighting against lower ranked Kazakhstan opponent. Sachi Jain won with white pieces in French defense Kings Indian attack against Mohd, Ainul Mardhiah (MAS). She is on 5.5 points. Aswinika Mani won with white pieces in Giuoco Piano against her higher rated opponent Caku Kler (ALB). She is on 5 points. Saparya Ghosh is on 4 points after winning against NORDAHL, Christine

U-16 Girls

In Table 6 Tejaswini G drew with White pieces in a Semi-Slav defense against Chinese Zhou Shumeng. She remains undefeated with 3 wins and 5 draws and is on 5.5 points.

Kheerti Ganta and Pragnya HG are on 5 points whereas Shubhi Gupta and Kanishka S are on 4.5 points. Amulya Guruprasad scored 3 points.

U-18 Girls WFM Bhagyashree Patil (4 points) lost with black pieces in Queens Gambit Declined Three Knights Harrwitz attack. Swara Lakshmi Nair won with black pieces in Sicilian Najdorf’s defense against her higher-rated opponent. She is on 4.5 points. Sasvatha A with white pieces drew against teammate Keerti Shree Reddy and they are on 4 points.