The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Indians set for challenge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 19, 2004

Sport

Sport - Chess

Indians set for challenge

By Our Principal Correspondent

KOCHI, NOV. 18. After taking expectations to a new high before the Chess Olympiad, the Indian stars are ready to tackle the junior Worlds which was formally inaugurated here on Thursday. The tournament proper begins on Friday.

The young stars, like Grandmasters P. Harikrishna and Koneru Humpy, should be keen to wipe away the disappointment of the empty bag from the recent Spain Olympiad. The Andhra youngster is seeded second here and the home advantage makes him a strong favourite.

The boys' top seed Ferenc Berkes is a former under-18 World champion while the fifth seed, Poland's Radoslaw Wojtaszek, is the current champion in the same category. With just a few points separating the top three — Russian Ekaterina Korbut (2400 Elo points), German Elisabeth Paehtz (2398) and India's new under-14 World champion Dronavalli Harika (2391) — the girls' championship is very tight.

Prize-money issue

Meanwhile, the AICF's decision to deduct 10 per cent of the prize-money from players in all tourneys conducted by the National body would be discussed at its special general body meeting here on Friday. A final verdict on the subject is likely to be taken at the meeting. The central council meeting will also be held tomorrow. "The prize-money deduction issue will be discussed. But more importantly, we will discuss plans to prepare for the next Olympiad," said the AICF secretary, P. T. Ummer Koya, here today.

A few Indian stars wore black badges to protest the AICF's decision during the strong Category 16 and international open tournaments held in Pune recently.

The seedings (top 10): Boys: 1. Ferenc Berkes (Hungary, 2630 Elo points), 2. P. Harikrishna (India, 2612), 3. Alexeev Evgeny Vladimirovich (Russia, 2604), 4. Wojtaszek Radoslaw (Poland, 2536), 5. Timur Gareyev (Uzbekistan, 2525), 6. Iljin Artem (Russia, 2522), 7. L'Amin Erwin (Netherlands, 2516), 8. Jan Smeets (Netherlands, 2515), 9. Yunieski Quezada Perez (Cuba, 2513), 10. Zhao Jun (China, 2511).

Girls: 1. Ekaterina Korbut (Russia, 2400), 2. Elisabeth Paehtz (Germany, 2398), 3. Dronavalli Harika (India, 2391), 4. Anna Ushenina (Ukraine, 2370), 5. Alina Motoc (Romania, 2359), 6. Eesha Karavade (India, 2307), 7. Zhang Jilin (China, 2287), 8. Gutsko Anastasiya (Ukraine, 2272), 9. Tania Sachdeva (India, 2256), 10. N. Vinuthna (India, 2223).

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