The Hindu : Short and Smirnov clinch titles

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 19, 2004

Sport

Sport - Chess

Short and Smirnov clinch titles

By Rakesh Rao

Harika

MUMBAI, JAN. 18. Sunday proved an off day for the Indians in contention for honours in the Commonwealth chess championship. The defeats of Pravin Thipsay, P. Hari Krishna and Lanka Ravi on the top three boards led to Russian GM Pavel Smirnov taking the overall crown and top seed Nigel Short realising the goal of adding the Commonwealth title to his collection.

On the brighter side for the host, Dronavalli Harika made history. Harika, who turned 13 on January 12, became the country's youngest Woman Grandmaster after making the final norm following a 49-move draw with 10-year-old sensation Parimarjan Negi. In 2001, Humpy had achieved the feat at the age of 14 years, six months and 17 days at Budapest. Harika made it in 13 years and six days!

Harika has probably become the youngest WGM in the continent but it could not be confirmed at once. Incidentally, Harika remains Asia's youngest Woman International Master, a record she achieved in December 2002.

Before the commencement of the final round, there was a possibility of Thipsay regaining the title.

But once he got into a difficult position in Ruy Lopez against Smirnov, it was only a matter of time before the stronger player won. Once Thipsay lost a minor piece for two pawns it looked a one-sided match till it finished after 42 moves.

Short enjoyed the upperhand against Hari on the second board. Hari kept defending all the time and Short did not have to work too hard to win this Dutch game in 64 moves. Though Smirnov and Short finished with 7.5 points each, the Russian was placed ahead due to better progressive count.

Meanwhile, Humpy dethroned the country's first WGM S. Vijayalakshmi for the women's title.

Final results (Indians unless stated):

Ninth round: Pavel Smirnov (Rus) (7.5) bt Pravin Thipsay (6.5); Nigel Short (Eng) (7.5) bt P. Hari Krishna (6); Lanka Ravi (6) lost to Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb) (7); Niaz Murshed (Ban) (7) bt Sergey Iskusnyh (Rus) (6); K. Sasikiran (6.5) bt Abhijeet Gupta (5.5); Alexander Fominyh (Rus) (6) drew with Abhijit Kunte (6); M. R. Venkatesh (6) drew with Sandipan Chanda (6); Tahir Vakhidov (Uzb) (6) drew with S. Vijayalakshmi (6); S. Poobesh Anand (6) drew with S. Kidambi (5.5); K. Ratnakaran (6) drew with Saidali Iuldachev (Uzb) (6); T. S. Ravi (5.5) drew with Stuart Conquest (Eng) (5.5); R. B. Ramesh (6) bt Somak Palit (5); N. Sudhakar Babu (5) lost to Koneru Humpy (6); Tejas Bakre (5.5) drew with S. Meenakshi (5.5); Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury (5.5) drew with Atanu Lahiri (5.5); R. R. Laxman (5) lost to Mahmood Lodhi (Pak) (6); Deep Sengupta (6) bt Varugeese Koshy (5); Vishal Sareen (5.5) drew with Sharad Tilak (5.5); G. N. Gopal (5.5) drew with Gurpreet Pal Singh (5.5); Surya Sekhar Ganguly (5.5) bt Yogesh Gore (4.5); Shukhrat Safin (Uzb) (5) drew with Nisha Mohota (5); Swati Ghate (5) drew with Neelotpal Das (5); Vladimir Feldman (Aus) (4.5) lost to George Michelakis (RSA) (5.5); Vikas Sharma (4.5) lost to D. V. Prasad (5.5); Jayant Gokhale (5) drew with Deepan Chakkravarthy (5); Rahul Shetty (5) drew with Aarthie Ramaswamy (5); Himanshu Sharma (5) drew with Rishi Pal Singh (5); Dinesh Kumar Sharma (4.5) lost to G. Balaji (5.5); Lim Yee Weng (Mal) (5) drew with Chandrashekhar Gokhale (5); P. Konguvel (5) drew with D. Sai Srinivas (5).

Final placings: Men: 1. Pavel Smirnov (Rus), 2. Nigel Short (Eng), 3. Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb); Women: 1. Koneru Humpy, 2. S. Vijayalakshmi, 3. S. Meenakshi.

Under-20: Boys: 1. P. Hari Krishna, 2. Poobesh Anand, 3. M. R. Venkatesh; Girls: 1. Lakshmi Praneetha, 2. D. Harika, 3. Y. Prathiba.

Commonwealth medallists (read as Gold, Silver and Bronze): Men: Nigel Short (Eng), Niaz Murshed (Ban) and Pravin Thipsay; Women: Koneru Humpy, S. Vijayalakshmi and S. Meenakshi.

Under-20: Boys: P. Hari Krishna, S. Poobesh Anand and M. R. Venkatesh; Girls: K. Lakshmi Praneetha, Siti Zulaikha and Y. Pratibha.

Under-18: Boys: Deep Sengupta, G. N. Gopal and Somak Palit; Girls: D. Harika, P. Priya and Nabeela Farheen; Under-16: Boys: Abhijeet Gupta, D. Sai Srinivas and Aswin Jayaram; Girls: Dhyani Dave, Saba Aziz Mhate and J. Rajasurya.

Under-14: Boys: Aditya Udeshi, Parimarjan Negi and B. Aditya; Girls: Pon. N. Krithika, Ramya Krishna and Kajri Choksi; Under-12: Boys: K. Priyadarshan, Y. Sandeep and S. Sai Krishna; Girls: Devangi Patankar, G. Madanasri and Rucha Pujari; Under-10: Boys: N. Srinath, Fenil Shah and K. Harsh; Girls: Tejaswini Reddy, Chandanapriya and J. Ramyasri. Best unrated: Shabier Bhawoodien (RSA).

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