The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Negi holds Alekseev

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Friday, Nov 11, 2005

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Sport - Chess

Negi holds Alekseev

NEW DELHI: Twelve-year-old Parimarjan Negi pulled off the biggest surprise of the World junior chess championship by holding second seeded Russian Grandmaster Evgeny Alekseev in the first round at the Golden Age Hotel in Istanbul on Wednesday night.

Even as three of the higher seeded Indians, G. Rohit, Deep Sengupta and S. Poobesh Anand, warmed up for the tougher battles ahead by beating lowly rivals, Negi made a splash by holding the two-time Russian junior champion. Negi now plays black against sixth seeded Chinese GM Wang Yue.

Creditable draw

A GM since 2002, the Pushkin-born Alekseev is enjoying his highest ever rating of 2632 to be ranked 80th in the world. It is to the credit of Negi that despite a modest rating of 2352, he denied the Russian a second victory of the year in their head-to-head encounters.

In January, Alekseev, as the top seed of the Corus `C' championship at Wijk aan Zee, had opened his campaign by scoring a 37-move victory with white pieces over the Delhi boy.

Indian girls shine

Even though G. N. Gopal and Akshat Khamparia lost to GMs, there was good news for India from the girls' section where Tania Sachdev and Kruttika Nadig squashed feeble challenges while Eesha Karavade defeated compatriot N. Raghavi. However, sixth seed D. Harika was among the four seeds from the top-10 list to figure in drawn games.

The results (first round):

Boys: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) bt Marko Krivokapic (Scg); Parimarjan Negi drew with Evgeny Alekseev (Rus); Vugar Gashimov (Aze) bt Jacob Vang Vang (Den); Hans Tikkanen (Swe) lost to Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Pol); Ferenc Berkes (Hun) drew with Felipe De Cresce (Bra); Other results (involving Indians): G. N. Gopal lost to Tomy Nyback (Fin); Akshat Khamparia lost to Mateusz Bartel (Pol); G. Rohit bt Fuat Uzun (Tur); Hasan Kivanc Cil (Tur) lost to Deep Sengupta; S. Poobesh Anand bt Emil Agdestein (Nor).

Girls: Girls: Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) bt Nadya Oritz (Col); Elista Raeva (Bul) lost to Anna Ushenina (Ukr); Mongontuul Bathuyag (Mgl) bt Marlies Bensdorp (Ned); Evgenia Meshcheriakova (Rus) drew with Elisabeth Paehtz (Ger); Natalija Pogonina (Rus) drew with Zuzana Gregorova (Svk); Other results (involving Indians): Viktoria Bashkite (Est) drew with D. Harika; Sandra Djukic (Scg) lost to Tania Sachdev; N. Raghavi lost to Eesha Karavade; Marie Frank-Nielsen (Den) lost to Kruttika Nadig.

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