Jr chess: Wheels come off India’s challenge

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The SDAT-Ramco world junior chess championship has been disastrous for India after six rounds.

Girish A. Koushik has been the lone warrior for the hosts, who have entered 92 of the 195 contestants.

Italy’s Axel Rombaldoni is in sole lead with an all-win record in the open category and Russian Girya Olga is at the top in the girls’ section with 5.5 points.

Koushik, 14, is the highest placed Indian at second position with five points. The Mysore boy has kept India’s flag afloat even as more fancied and experienced players have fallen by the wayside. Koushik has a realistic chance of winning the title if he plays with the current rating performance of 2600 elo and above in the remaining seven rounds.

Seeking his first International Master norm in this tournament, Koushik has already beaten two GMs and one IM. His only loss here was at the hands of compatriot IM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi in round two.
Grandmasters B. Adhiban and S.P. Sethuraman, who were expected to be in the title race at this stage of the competition, haven’t fired on cylinders. Early draws have derailed their plans.

The start was nothing but auspicious for Adhiban, the 10th seed, as he drew the first round and lost the next against R.A. Pradeep Kumar and S.L. Narayanan respectively. After moving to the 43rd board, he defeated two lower-rated players.

Adhiban, then, shared a point with Australian Ly Moulthun in game five before registering a lucky win against Brazil’s Barbosa Evandro.

“I was waiting for a mistake from Evandro and he made one in the fag end of the game,” Adhiban said of his sixth round win. His statement summed up the Indian GM’s poor form in the tournament.

Sethuraman missed a golden opportunity in the sixth round to remain on the coat tails of the leader when he allowed Koushik to exchange pieces in the endgame when his only hope was some tactical mating chances. “I played a horrible game against Koushik. I simply missed the night fork. Otherwise, I could have beaten him with my king, rook and knight well placed,” said an upset Sethuraman.

Monday was supposed to be a rest day for him but he had to spend it, ruing about his blunder.

It must be said that he hadn’t played the earlier rounds better. After sharing a point with S.L. Narayanan in the opening round, the 12th-seeded Sethuraman edged out R.A. Pradeep Kumar on time in the next. Again in the third round he shared a point with local player N. Srinath before defeating compatriots Aditya Udeshi and Anwesh Upadhyaya in the fourth and fifth rounds.

Contrastingly, Padmini Rout, India’s best bet in the girls’ section, started strongly with three consecutive wins. But she missed a gilt-edged opportunity to press home for a win against Georgia’s Paikidze Nazi, the top seed, in the fourth round. The eventual draw has affected her campaign.

“I should have beaten Nazi,” Padmini had said after that game. Worse, she lost the next two games to remain rooted at 3.5 points.

While she played poorly in the fifth round, her sixth game was just a reminder of how the performance of a dejected person would deteriorate in course of time.