The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Negi keeps winning

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2004

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Sport - Chess

Negi keeps winning

By Manuel Aaron

HERAKLIO (GREECE), NOV. 9. Parimarjan Negi became one of the three players in the entire World Youth Chess Festival to lead their categories with full points.

Negi has six points in the under-12 boys section with five rounds to go. Others to win all six games are Mary Arabitze of Georgia who stopped J. Mohana Priya in the sixth round of the under-10 girls event and Yu Yangyi of China in the under-10 boys.

WGM Dronavalli Harika is in joint lead with Elena Tairova of Russia in the under-14 girls. They have already faced each other and drawn that game.

Negi with the black pieces played the Noteboom Variation in the Slav Defence against Julian Jorczik of Germany. The German obviously did not know much about this variation and reacted aggressively but unwisely and played e2-e4.

A further inaccuracy recapturing a black knight with a bishop instead of a pawn allowed Negi to have two connected passed pawns rolling down the board on the queenside. Negi tactically outplayed his opponent who resigned on the 27th move when he could not stop a black pawn from queening on the a1 square.

Harika displayed the qualities that has made her a WGM when she downed Russia's Olga Girya on the top table of the under-14 girls. She played the white side of a Dutch Defence with great foresight and patience to keep the Russian dancing to her tune in a queen-less middle-game.

She sacrificed a pawn for active play by her two rooks and bishop. With mating threats with her rook and bishop battery she got back the pawn with advantage and went one pawn up on the 52nd turn. Four moves later she forced resignation with a simple combination.

Another loss for

Mary-Ann

In the under-16 girls, Mary-Ann Gomes was knocked out of the lead by Bela Khotenashvili of Georgia in just 18 moves. In the black side of the Dutch Defence, Mary-Ann made several inaccuracies and later said, "I have never played so horribly in my life".

Mohana Priya got an unclear middle-game against the Benko Gambit of Arabitze but eventually got an attacking position. She had a strong bishop watching the black king but her inexperience saw ghosts and she pulled back her pieces for defence. Then she weakened her castled position and black went on to win.

N. Srinath won his sixth round game and is one point behind China's Yu Yangyi in the under-10 section. Tejeswini Reddy is also a point behind the leader.

Deep Sengupta and S. Arun Prasad are making cautious but steady progress in the boys under-16.

Indian players' results (sixth round):

Girls under-10: J.Mohana Priya 5 lost to Mary Arabitze (Geo); Tejeswini Reddy 5 bt Kou Yingya (Chn); Gutta Sirisha 3.5 bt L. Ambanwala (Sri).

Girls under-12: G. Madanasri 4.5 drew Alina Kashlinskaya (Rus); P. Lakshmi Sahithi 4.5 bt Jeanine de Cloet (Ned); Monika Motycakova (Svk) drew Devangi Patankar 3;

Girls under-14: D. Harika 5.5 bt Olga Girya (Rus); Lakshmi Praneetha 4.5 bt Maria Ignacz (Hun); Meri Zhorzholiani (Geo) lost to Anjanaa Sowjanyaa 4; Kajri Choksi 3 drew Maria Heinatz (Sui).

Girls under-16: Khotenashvili (Geo) bt Mary-Ann Gomes 4.5.

Girls under-18: N. Vinuthna 3.5 lost to Vera Papadopoulou (Gre); Natalia Zdebskaja (Ukr) bt M. Rajadarshini 3.

Boys under-10: N. Srinath 5 bt Dmytro Kigel (Kaz); Ray Robson (USA) bt Prasanna Rao (3.5); G. Madhukiran 4 bt Nodar Lortkipanidze (Geo); Yevgen Alexandrenkov (Ukr) bt K. Sanjoy Singh 3.

Boys under-12: Julian Jorczik (Ger) lost to P. Negi 6; Y. Sandeep 4.5 drew with Alexander Kachko (Rus); Zviad Sichinava (Rus) lost to S. Ravi Teja (4.5).

Boys under-14: Dasari Sai Srinivas 4 drew with Pouria Darini (Iran); Sebastian Zehnter (Ger) bt Sanchit Chauhan 2; Sankalp Modwal 2 drew with Datu Jesus (Phi).

Boys under-16: S. Arun Prasad 4.5 drew with FM Morand Wojciech (Pol); Deep Sengupta 4 drew with Dzhurabek Khamrakulov (Uzb); Drazen Dragicevic (Swe) lost to G. Rohith.

Boys under-18: K. Nikhilesh Kumar 3.5 drew FM Davit Magalashvili (Geo).

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