Chennai girl Catherina beats Russian WGM

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India’s spearhead Padmini Rout continued her winning run by defeating Brazil’s Terao Juliana Sayumi in the third round of the girls’ section in the SDAT-Ramco world junior chess championship at Vijay Park here on Thursday.

In the open category, Delhi’s Sahaj Grover and Karnataka’s G.A. Stany held their respective opponents to reach 2.5 points. While Sahaj Grover drew with lower-rated Getz Nicolai (Norway) in 31 moves in a Slav defense game, Stany shared a point after 32 moves with higher-rated grandmaster Rasulov Vugar Ural Oglu of Azerbaijan in an unusual opening.

However, the day belonged to local girl and current national sub-junior champion P. Michelle Catherina, who stole the limelight by defeating experienced WGM Russia’s Savina Anastasia.

Michelle, 14, caught her much fancied opponent in an opening trap and romped home comfortably in 22 moves. The unassuming tenth standard student from Good Shepherd School thought she would get an advantage when her opponent played a wrong knight move on the 16th move.

However, according to GM R.B. Ramesh, the game was over when Michelle capitalised on her opponent’s blunder by making a strong knight move to the centre. “It was a common trap and we were aware of it for the last four years. I am surprised that the Russian WGM fell for it,” he added.

Another Chennai girl to shine on Thursday was M. Mahalakshmi who got a creditable draw against higher-rated Czech WIM Olsarova Karolina in an opposite bishop ending. While Mahalakshmi had a slightly inferior position rising out of French defense, she defended well to remain unbeaten after three rounds.

In another important result, Indian IM Debashis Das held the top-seeded Russian GM Maxim Matlakov in an intriguing encounter.

In an irregular opening arising out of benoni structure, the Russian GM seemed to be gaining ground when he sacrificed his rook for Debashis’s knight to obtain two central passed pawns. But Debashis blocked the pawns with his bishop and drew the complicated endgame by repeating moves for the third time.

The previous round giant killers G. Lasya of Andhra Pradesh and Aditya Udeshi of Maharashtra lost to stronger opponents in the third round. Aditya blundered against GM Ray Robson of the US by going after a flank pawn in a closed Sicilian opening. “My opponent played passively today and also got into time trouble,” said Robson, who cantered home in 26 moves.

Similarly, Lasya too played passively against Azerbaijan WIM Kazimova Narmin Nizami Qizi but prolonged the game till the ending to lose in 49 moves.

Important Results: (Indians otherwise stated): Open:IM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2492, 2) lost to GM Salgado Lopez Ivan (Esp, 2626, 3); IM Goganov Aleksey (Rus, 2489, 2.5) drew with GM Nabaty Tamir (Isr, 2584, 2.5); IM Rombaldoni Axel (Ita, 2459, 3) bt GM Grandelius Nils (Swe, 2542, 2); G.A. Stany (2435, 2.5) drew with GM Rasulov Vugar Ural Oglu (Aze, 2522, 2.5);FM Petrisor Adrian-Marian (Rou, 2408, 2.5) drew with IM Huschenbeth Niclas (Ger, 2521, 2.5); IM Piorun Kacper (Pol, 2514, 3) bt FM Petenyi Tamas (Svk, 2398, 2); FM Getz Nicolai (Nor, 2385, 2.5) drew with IM Grover Sahaj (2496, 2.5); GM Robson Ray (US, 2560, 2.5) bt Udeshi Aditya (2378, 2); IM Debashis Das (2396, 2) drew with GM Matlakov Maxim (Rus, 2632, 2); GM Ter-Sahakyan Samvel (Arm, 2558, 2.5) bt FM Krysa Leandro (Arg, 2374, 1.5).

Girls: WGM Paikidze Nazi (Geo, 2416, 3) bt WIM Ozturk Kubra (Tur, 2258, 2); WGM Cori T. Deysi (Pe, 2376, 3) bt WFM Semenova Elena (Rus, 2175, 2); WGM Padmini Rout (2348, 3) bt WFM Terao Juliana Sayumi (Bra, 2168, 2); Forestier Carole (Fra, 2101, 2) lost to WIM Bulmaga Irina (Rou, 2293, 3); WIM Kazimova Narmin Nizami Qizi (Aze, 2292, 3) bt G. Lasya (1898, 2); WFM Lkhamsuren Uuganbayar (Mgl, 2163, 2) drew with WIM Kulkarni Bhakti (2317, 2);WFM Romero Echeverria Abigail (Ecu, 2071, 1.5) lost to WIM Nakhbayeva Guliskhan (Kaz, 2222, 2.5); WIM Agrest Inna (Swe, 2220, 2) drew with Krumova Ani (Bul, 1961, 2); WIM Olsarova Karolina (Cze, 2282, 1.5) drew with WFM M. Mahalakshmi (1901, 2).