The Hindu : Sport : Three join Vishnu at the top

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Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007
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Three join Vishnu at the top

Rakesh Rao

Mary Ann Gomes continues to win

MUMBAI: It is a like a marathon where the favourites take their time to join the leading pack.

Having lost a game each in the first two roundsm top ranked Parimarjan Negi and second seed Aswin Jayaram continued make up for the lost time with contrasting sixth-round victories to be part of the leading quartet at the Asian junior chess championship here on Tuesday.

Parimarjan, the only Grandmaster on view, needed just 20 moves to stop M R. Lalith Babu and reached five points. Aswin scored his fifth straight victory to end overnight leader Vishnu Prasanna’s five-game triumphant run at the Goregaon Sports Club.

Adhiban stunned

P. Karthikeyan stunned sixth seed B. Adhiban to join Parimarjan, Aswin and Vishnu. The day also saw T. Purushothman upstage Iran’s Sayed Alavi, seeded three, in 34 moves.

Parimarjan worked on Lalith’s discomfort when made to play actively.

Lalith, basically a player who loves a crowded board, tried to break free by sacrificing a bishop for three kingside pawns but could do little more in this Grunfeld move and resigned.

Vishnu, the only unbeaten boy so far, met his match in Aswin.

In Sicilian Najdorf, Aswin gradually gained space with some active queen moves down the kingside and increased the pressure to win a couple of pawns.

Vishnu managed to complicate matters but Aswin eventually won in 55 moves.

Convincing win

Among the girls, Mary Ann Gomes maintained her overnight 1.5-point lead over the Orissa duo of Padmini Rout and Kiran Manisha Mohanty with a convincing victory over P. Priya.

The unbeaten Mary now plays Kiran, the second seed who tripped top ranked Atousa Pourkashiyan in 72 moves after trading two minor pieces for a rook.

Decisive results

On a day when all the nine boards produced decisive verdicts, Padmini stopped S. Harini, while P. Sivasankari moved to the fourth spot by beating Pon N. Krithika.

Kruttika Nadig suffered her third straight loss after surrendering to Soumya Swaminathan in 27 moves.

The results (Indians unless stated):

Boys: Sixth round: Vishnu Prasanna (5) lost to Aswin Jayaram (5); M. R. Lalith Babu (4) lost to Parimarjan Negi (5); B. Adhiban (4) lost to P. Karthikeyan (5); Deep Sengupta ( 4.5) bt Aditya Udeshi (3.5); Meghan Gupte (3.5) lost to M. Shyam Sundar (4.5); T. Purushothaman (4) bt Sayed Alavi (Iri) (3); Sagar Shah (3) lost to S. P. Sethuraman (4); Sahaj Grover (3.5) drew with Akshat Khamparia (3.5 ); Swayams Mishra (3) lost to K. Priyadarshan (4); Bitan Banerjee (4) bt Debashis Das (3); Saravana Krishnan (4) bt Y. D. B. Madugalle (Sri) (3); Snehal Bhosale (3) lost to Swapnil Dhopade (4); Abhishek Das (3.5) bt Aniruddha Deshpande (3); S. Nitin ( 2.5) received a walkover from Aziz Sharify (Afg); N. Surendran (3) bt Rakesh Kulkarni (2.5); Abhishek Kelkar (3) bt Aditya Singh (2); Nikhil Kamat (3) bt Sumant Subramanium (Mal) (2); Madankrishna Kayasth (Nep) (2) lost to Shreyans K. Shah (3); Shiven Khosla (2) lost to Kiranpal Singh Mahajan (3); Zamer Mazazi (Afg) (2) gave a walkover to G. Santhosh Kumar (3).

Girls: P. Priya (3.5) lost to Mary Ann Gomes (6); S. Harini (3.5) lost to Padmini Rout (4.5); Kiran Manisha Mohanty (4.5) bt Atousa Pourkashiyan (Iri) (3); Pon N. Krithika (3) lost to P. Sivasankari (4); Kruttika Nadig ( 2.5) lost to Soumya Swaminathan (3.5); Mitali Patil (2) lost to Shamima Akter (Ban) (3); P. Uthra 3) bt Bhakti Juikar (1.5); Y G. Sriharika (2.5) bt Tara Rahimi (Iri) (2); J. Mohana Priya (2.5) bt Sonakshi Rathore (0.5).

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