The Hindu : Sport / Chess : More at stake than ever before

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Thursday, Aug 24, 2006

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Sport - Chess

More at stake than ever before

Special Correspondent

Negi, Deepan, Deep Sengupta will be missing

NEW DELHI: There will be more at stake in the Parsvnath National junior (under-19) chess championship than in the competition's 34-year history. For once, the winner and runner-up from each section will gain qualification for the new-look National `A' championships this season.

Once the action commences at the Bapu Samaj Sewa Kendra here on Thursday, a host of talented boys and girls, some of them with proven abilities, are expected to give nothing away in their pursuit to secure these direct berths for the senior National championships.

The decision of the All India Chess Federation (AICF) to do away with the gruelling round-robin formats in National `A' and adopt the Swiss League on an experimental basis has made this opportunity available in these junior championships.

In fact, the top three finishers in the open and girls' sections will represent the country in the World junior championship. However, the AICF is yet to confirm whether the same players will form the Indian team for the Asian junior championship here in November with preference to the top three players from the previous edition held at Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, last year.

In the 10-round open section, where Andhra's WGM D. Harika will aim to become the first girl to win the title. GM norm holder and 2002 champion Abhijeet Gupta, 2004 winner G.N. Gopal, G. Rohit and Arghyadip Das are capable of beating the field. Rising talent S.P. Sethuraman, who like Gopal holds two IM norms, will also be watched. In the absence of GM Parimarjan Negi, much of the local interest is likely to be sustained by the World under-10 boys' champion Sahaj Grover and eight-year-old Prince Bajaj.

Other notable absentees are the 2004 Asian junior champion Arun Prasad, former Asian junior champion and GM in-waiting Deepan Chakkravarthy and Deep Sengupta.

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