The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Indians looking to improve tally

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Wednesday, Jul 20, 2005

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Indians looking to improve tally

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: India will be looking to return with its biggest-ever medal haul from the World Youth chess championship at Belfort, France.

At best, India has won two medals each on three different occasions. But this time, last year's medal winners — D. Harika and Parimarjan Negi — along with the Asian under-16 girls' champion Mary Ann Gomes promise a better show.

Negi, on the threshold of becoming the world's youngest International Master, heads the boys' under-12 section. He is keen to improve upon his last year's bronze-winning performance. Going by his recent form, Negi is expected to justify his seeding but it remains to be seen how the youngster copes with the growing pressure of expectations.

Besides Negi, the other bright Indian prospects for medals in the same section are P. Sethuraman and N. Srinath.

Similarly, the girls' under-16 section provides the Indians with hope. D. Harika, one of the favourites, can expect stiff challenges from Russia's Valentina Gunina and Slovenia's Anna Muzychuk. India's Mary and Saheli Nath are capable of breaking into the medal bracket in this category.

In the boys' under-18 division, former Asian junior champion Deepan Chakkravarthy and Deep Sengupta will be watched with interest. Though Poland's Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Russia's Eugeny Tomashevsky and Nikita Vityugov will be among the favourites, the Indian challengers have the potential to cause a few surprises.

In the girls' under-18 category, where the field looks very tough, it will be test of temperament for N. Vinuthna and Soumya Swaminathan.

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