World Junior 2023 :Round 7

Round 7 proved to be a testing one for both boys and girls. GM Pranav Anand and IM Dushyant Sharma, overnight joint leaders, suffered losses. On the other hand, IM Harshavardhan beat the higher-rated GM. In the girls’ section, WIM Mounika was very close to causing an upset with higher-rated WGM. A report by IM Krishna CRG and WIM Tarini Goyal.

Round 7- Boys: GM Pranav Anand played black on the 1st board against French GM Maurizzi, Marc`andria (2555). Pranav got a very decent position out of the opening but failed to capitalize on White’s passive 13.h3. 13…- Re8 instead of d5, planning d5 the next move, would have put more pressure on White. The decisive mistake came on the 19th move from the Indian youngster where he played Nh4 instead of the solid developing move Rad8. White, being a pawn up, played with a good technique and won a good endgame.

IM Dushyant Sharma, playing White against GM Avila Pavas, Santiago (2510) had a comfortable position out of the opening. A slight inaccuracy on move 15 in the form of Rac1 gave Black a strong pawn break b5. Instead, White could have gone for a4 on the 15th move stopping b5. The real turning point was when Dushyant blundered 17. Qxb5 missing the tactical stroke Nxe4!! From Black. After this move, White was completely lost. Black converted the position into a full point with ease.

The star of the day for India was IM Harshavardhan GB. He won with GM Kacharava, Nikolozi (2528) from Black. Harshavardhan played Delayed Steinitz Defense for 1.e4. Kacharava, on the other hand, came fully prepared and got a very advantageous position out of the opening.

Things looked bleak for the Indian youngster when he played 17….-Rh6. White should have opted for Qd3 on the 18th move not allowing Nf5 and then played f4. Instead, Kacharava went for f4 immediately which gave Harsha a chance to put his knight on the strong f5 square. After some inaccuracies from White and correct play from Black, White gave an interesting exchange sacrifice on move 29 but failed to get any compensation as the Indian youngster consolidated the position and converted a rather equal position to a nice win.

Vignesh B playing White against lower rated Torres Rivas, Felipe De Jesus (1877) registered a win and is on 4 points out of 7 rounds.

Round 7-Girls: In the girls section, WGM Rakshitta suffered a defeat to WIM Obregon Garcia, Roxangel (2171). Playing Black, Rakshitta went for 1.e5 for e4. After a decent opening, she played a dubious piece sacrifice on move 13. After accepting the sacrifice, White would have consolidated the position with the thematic Kg2 on move 15 followed by Rh1 with a winning position. But, 15.d4 gave Black a small chance to get counterplay with Qf6 and Re8 hitting on the e4 pawn. Black played Qf6 on move 15 but did not play Re8. After mistakes from both sides, due to severe time pressure, Rakshitta lost after White got Qh7 followed by Bb4 threat.

WIM Mounika Akshaya had an excellent position out of the opening against WGM Francisco Guecamburu, Candela Be (2345). 16.0-0-0 from Mounika would have kept Black under so much pressure as White had developed almost all the pieces with a strong center but Mounika played

Kf2 there instead of 0-0-0. After heavy exchanges, Mounika once again had a chance to pressurize Black with 25. Bb5 followed by g4 so as to not let Black’s light square Bishop from c8. After this opportunity, good moves from both sides paved the position to a double rook endgame. The game ended in a draw after 77 moves.

Amulya Guruprasad, playing White against WCM Cata Pallo, Alejandra Nicole secured a victory and is now on 3 points.