Sengupta tastes defeat

By Manuel Aaron

OROPESA (SPAIN) OCT. 20. The entire Indian contingent here almost wept with Deep Sengupta when he was defeated in the eighth round of the World under-12 boys chess championship last night. However, the silver lining is that Deep is still in the lead though he shares it with Croatia's Ante Brkic who beat him. They have 6.5 points each.

Koneru Humpy went into sole lead again in the under-14 Girls. In the under-10 girls, Dronavalli Harika shares the second slot with Bulgaria's Tairova, just half a point behind the tournament leader Zhong Yi Tan of China.

Three more rounds remain in this World Youth Chess Festival organised by the Spanish Chess Federation.

With the black pieces, Humpy played the Queens Indian Defence against Maria Kursova of Russia and obtained a free position at the cost of an isolated pawn on d5. The initiative that she enjoyed put the Russian girl under tremendous tension. She was unable to fathom Humpy's plans in the long middle-game manoeuvres and was suddenly caught on the wrong foot. She had to give up one rook for a knight on the 40th move. Humpy finished the game in an immaculate manner, offering her rook for a knight. But Kursova could not accept that deadly offer and resigned.

Humpy is in sole lead because Eesha Karavade did a good job of holding Nataliya Hygorenko to a draw. Eesha misplayed the Kings Indian attack and the Ukraine girl was having a vastly superior position. At one stage Hygorenko could have tactically chopped off a central white pawn for nothing. She missed it and then followed a big battle. Eesha misjudged the position and walked her king from the castled king-side to d1 where black found many ways of harassing the king. In the melee, white got two bishops for a rook and pawn but with the less secure king position she had to be on her toes to avoid defeat. Eventually, on the 70th move with queens, rooks and bishops still on the board they agreed to a draw by repetition in an unclear position.

In the black side of a Queens Gambit Accepted Deep Sengupta achieved a comfortable position against Ante Brkic of Croatia, formerly a part of Yugoslavia. Deep even had the better pawn structure. The points position in the championship and the easy equality with the black pieces probably lulled Deep into a false sense of security. At one stage in the middle-game he had the choice of playing his queen to c7 or e7. Basing his decision on general considerations and not on calculations, Deep chose Qc7. This was a fatal mistake as the Croat replied with a decisive bishop sacrifice on h7. To avoid mate, Deep had to give up his queen for a knight and later on, the futile defence.

Akshayraj Kore was held to a draw by Gudmundur Kjartarsson of Iceland in 20 moves. From the black side of a Sveshnikov Sicilian bristling with threats and counter threats, Kore offered a draw. His opponent told him to make his move and then he would consider. Kore thought long and hard and made an aggressive knight move which he thought gave him excellent chances. Then, Kjartarsson accepted the draw offer. But Kore wanted to play on. The arbiter was called and the game was ruled drawn. The FIDE Laws state that when a player offers a draw without making a move, he is then obliged to make a move and his opponent may accept or reject the offer on seeing the move and the draw offer cannot be withdrawn in the meanwhile.

Abhijeet Gupta overlooked a fairly simple combination from Valentine Iotov of Bulgaria. Though he did not lose material, his position was shattered and he eventually lost a king and pawn ending. In the under-10 girls, Harika had a facile victory over Gabriele Saulyte of Lithuania. Saulyte played the first six moves of the Dutch Defence according to plan and then made mistakes at periodic intervals. She herself opened up the queen- side where Harika was strong and practically self-destructed. When Harika made the knight sacrifice Nxe4 on the 20th turn, black's game collapsed on all fronts simultaneously. Harika mated her on the 33rd move. In the under-14, Harikrishna continues to languish in a tie for the fourth slot. He was held to a draw, his fifth in this event, by local boy Victor Alcazar Jimenez.

lEighth round Indian results:Under-10 Girls: D.Harika 6.5 bt Gabriel Saulyte (Ltu) 5; Maria Jankowska (Pol) lost to V.K.Sindhu 5.5;

Under-12: L.Iswarya Shobana 4.5 bt Andreia Fanganiello (Bra); Kruttika Nadig 4 drew with Kinga Harsanyi (Hun); Under-14: Maria Kursova (Rus) 5.5 lost to K.Humpy 7; Eesha Karavade 6 drew with Natalia Hygorenko (Ukr) 6.5; Ksenia Startseva (Est) drew with Tania Sachdev 4.5; Nabeela Farheen 3 bt Aurora Bianchini (Ita);

Under-16: Slabeja Shtereva (Bul) bt Shraddha Samani 4; Under-18: Silje Bjerke (Nor) drew with J.E.Kavitha 3.5.

Under-10: Boys: Dasari Sai Srinivas 5 drew with Azamat Utegaliev (Kaz); Andre Diamant (Bra) lost to M.Abhinav 5.5; Under-12: Ante Brkic (Cro) 6.5 bt Deep Sengupta 6.5; Valentine Iotov (Bul) 6 bt Abhijeet Gupta 5; Gudmundur Kjartarsson (Ice) 5.5 drew with Akshayraj Kore 5.5; Under-14: Victor Alcazar (Spa) drew with P.Harikrishna 5.5; Saptarshi Roy 5 bt Dagur Arngrimsson (Ice); Himanshu Kumar 3 bt Anders Nikolajsen (Faroe Islands);

Under-16: Yashpal Sonwani 4 lost to Aleksandras Jegorovas (Ltu);

Under-18: Dalibor Stojanovic (Boz) bt P.Mageshchandran 4.

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