World Youth Championship 2009- 6th round results

IM Vidit Gujrathi continued his good run by maintaining the sole lead of 5.5 points after drawing with FM Urkedal Frode in the U-16 section. In a slav exchange variation Vidit equalised easily with black to hold the game. Earlier in the day he swung into the lead by outplaying compatriot S.P.Sethuraman in the fifth round with precise technique.

IM S.P.Sethurman bounced back in the 6th round by playing a powerful game with the white pieces by sacrificing a pawn for initiative and scored a facile victory against compatriot Debashis Das in the Semi Slav and is trailing Vidit by half a point .

In the U-8 section Delhi lad Vaibhav Suri employing the Sicilian Taimanov variation carved out a fine victory to stay in the lead with 5.5 points . Diptayan Ghosh with 5 points to his credit is trailing Vaibahv Suri and also very much in the run for medal tally after a hard earned victory against Tigran Harutyunian.

In the U-10 section Hetul Shah jumped to the second place with 5 other players after scoring back to back victories in the 5th and 6th rounds . In an English opening he exhibited great positional maturity to score an elegant win against Boldoo Erdenpurev . In the U-14 section Tejas Ravichandran with 4.5 points frittered away an overwhelming position by losing to Yuan Yi

In the U-8 girls Bansi Prathima was on a roll by accounting for Mourad Fatemmah in a slav exchang variation to take her tally to 5 points and is in the joint second slot though Chinese player Chu Ruotong is on full score with 6 points.

In the U-10 girls C.H.Meghna gave a spirited display to outwit Dmochowska and jumped to the third spot with 5 points. Earlier in the fifth round she put it across Alieda De Bruyn.

Goli Lasya playing consistently well is on the joint second spot with 5 points in the U-12 girls section.

Also in the fray are Saranya and Nandhidhaa in U-14 girls, B.Adhiban and Jain Shreyesh Daklia in U-18 section, Mitrabha Guha in the U-8 section,Murali Karthikeyan in U-10,Shardul Gagare in U-12, Mahalakshmi in U-12 girls, Padmini Rout and Rucha Pujari in U-16 girls, Ivana Furtado in the U-10 girls with 4.5 points each respectively.

By D.V.Prasad

(International Master)

Anand Beats Leko, In Lead at Moscow

World champion Viswanathan Anand scored his second straight win with the white pieces to join Vladimir Kramnik in the lead after five rounds in the Tal Memorial Category 21 Tournament at Moscow on November 10.

Anand had drawn all his black games and won with the white so far. In the Anti-Meran Gambit, Anand outclassed Leko in the queen and rook ending. When he was about to lose his second pawn in a queen ending, Leko resigned with the black pieces.

Anand and Kramnik are leading the 10-player single all play all with 3.5/5 after scoring two victories apiece.

Kramnik impressed and came close to winning his third game. Having perched a pawn on the seventh rank, he failed to convert a better position. He landed in a rook ending with the black pieces. Gelfand was able to draw the three versus four rook and pawn ending with pawns on the same side after 81 moves.

Teenaged prodigy, Carlsen remained quiet with a 31-move draw against Ivanchuk. Neither side tried to win the game. There are still four rounds to go in this average 2764 Elo tournament. Anand still has to face Carlsen, Aronian, Morozevich and Gelfand.

The results (round five): V. Anand (Ind) 3.5 bt P. Leko (Hun) 1.5, L. Aronian (Arm) 3 drew with A. Morozevich (Rus) 2, V. Ivanchuk (Ukr) 2.5 drew with M. Carlsen (Nor) 2.5, B. Gelfand (Isr) 2.5 drew with V. Kramnik (Rus) 3.5, P. Svidler (Rus) 1.5 drew with R. Ponomariov (Ukr) 2.5.

Kramnik Wrests Sole Lead at Moscow

Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia moved into sole lead in the Tal Memorial at Moscow on Nov 8. Kramnik who lives in Moscow defeated countryman Peter Svidler of St Petersburg with the white pieces to move into sole lead with three points from four rounds.

World champion Viswanathan Anand remained quiet with a draw from his third black game in round four. He shares the second-third place with Levon Aronian on 2.5 points. Anand drew comfortably with the black against Ponomariov. Anand gave up a pawn to enter a dead level opposite colour bishop ending.

Anand is the only player to play the same opening in all his four rounds. He played the Grunfeld defence three times with black and Svidler played it with black against him in the third round. Anand won round three to break the jinx of draws in the event. Soon, Kramnik also won against Morozevich after Aronian put it across Leko. With his win number two in a row, Kramnik has taken an early lead.

Anand played some deft moves on turn 24 and 25 to exploit the black weakness and win against Svidler in round three. Anand has a clean 1/1 score with white and still has three more white games to come.

On the health of the players, Carlsen is reported to be suffering from fever and Kramnik is also not well. Kramnik is playing at 2964! This super category 21 event is a 10-player single all-play-all with an average rating of 2764.

The results (round four): V. Kramnik (Rus) 3 bt P. Svidler (Rus) 1, M. Carlsen (Nor) 2 drew with L. Aronian (Arm) 2.5, R. Ponomariov (Ukr) 2 drew with V. Anand (Ind) 2.5, P. Leko (Hun) 1.5 drew with V. Ivanchuk (Ukr) 2, A. Morozevich (Rus) 1.5 lost to B. Gelfand (Isr) 2.

Results of round three: Anand bt Svidler, Aronian bt Leko, Morozevich lost to Kramnik, Gelfand drew Carlsen, Ivanchuk drew Ponomariov.

Ten Draws In Moscow

World champion Viswanathan Anand played his second draw in a row in the Tal Memorial Tournament and both of them are welcome results as he played black in these two encounters. Round two also produced five draws and there is no sign of victory in Moscow so far. Seven rounds remain to be played in this event which will be played from Nov 4-14.

Two draws from black games, both by using the Grunfeld is a good sign for Anand. Anand had played the Grunfeld before in the June 1994 PCA Candidates match against Oleg Romanishin at New York.

This draw against Kramnik from whom he wrested the world title last year went to an opposite colour bishop ending before draw was agreed. Kramnik sacrificed his queen for rook and bishop to keep his chances but black played well for a draw.

Anand's two draws are better than Carlsen's two draws as the Chennai born Indian played black in both while Carlsen played white pieces in both his games. All ten players are on one point.

The results (round two). M. Carlsen (Nor) drew with A. Morozevich (Rus), V. Kramnik (Rus) drew with V. Anand (Ind), P. Leko (Hun) drew with B. Gelfand (Isr), P. Svidler (Rus) drew with V. Ivanchuk (Ukr), R. Ponomariov (Ukr) drew with L. Aronian (Arm).

Soumya Swaminathan Is World Junior Champion

Soumya Swaminathan achieved what only five other Indians have achieved in world chess. She won the World Junior girls chess championship at Puerto Madryn in Argentina on November 3, 2009.

In the thirteenth and final round, Soumya, defeated Kubra Ozturk of Turkey with the white pieces for a place in world history. She became the third Indian girl after Koneru Humpy (2002) and Dronavalli Harika (2008) to win the World Junior Girls championship. The World Junior had been won by V. Anand (1987), P. Harikrishna (2004) and Abhijeet Gupta (2008) also. India is retaining the girls title.

"Great news Magesh, congratulations to her and to the entire team. Our president Mr N.Srinivasan and myself convey our hearty thanks for having kept the Indian flag flying high," said D.V. Sundar in an official comminique from Vietnam to the Indian coach GM P. Magesh Chandran in Argentina.

Soumya tied for the first place with two others but had the better tie-break score to end a deserving winner. All of them scored 9.5 points from 13 games. In the final round, Soumya started on 8.5 points and Cori Tello (Per) was also on 8.5. But Betul Yildiz of Turkey was better placed on nine points. While leader Yildiz only drew against Orissa's Kiran Mohanty, Soumya and Cori Tello won to tie for the first place on 9.5 points. When the official results were out, Soumya had the higher tie-break score of 27314, higher than Cori Tello's 27250 and Yildiz's 27052.

Soumya was in command in the event but a penultimate round defeat pushed her down from which she rose to win the tournament. She speaks English, Hindi, Marathi and fluent Tamil.

Soumya was born in Palakkad in 1989 and their family moved to Pune. Both her parents worked in a bank. When she was about to represent India in the World Under-10 championship her mother died in a road accident. Soumya recovered from that blow and has achieved plenty in chess.

"In her trip to Europe last year, she made five norms in one and a half months," said Joseph D'Souza, a chess administrator in Pune. Soumya is hard working and is a Commerce Student from the BMCC College he said. She is under the scholarship of a Petroleum company, he said.

Soumya had won several National titles: National U-17 in 2004, National Junior in 2005 and 2008. Her rating is 2297 and she played at 2433 Elo and would be gaining about ten Elo points from this event. Soumya won eight games, lost two to the two players she tied on points and drew three games for the title.The highest rated player she defeated was second seed Xiaowen Zhang of China. She did not face the top seed Mary Ann Gomes of Kolkata.

Medal winners and Indians in tie-break order:

Boys: 1-2 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra), Sergei Zhigalko (Blr) 10.5/13; 3 GM Michal Olszewski (Pol) 9; 20 IM M.R. Lalith Babu (Ind) 7.5; 22 IM P. Karthikeyan (Ind) 7.5; 24 IM Ashwin Jayaram (Ind) 7.5; 40 IM B. Adhiban (Ind) 6.5; 41 IM M. Shyam Sundar (Ind) 6.5; 44 FM Vishnu Prasanna (Ind) 6.5...82 players.

Girls: 1-3. WGM Soumya Swaminathan (Ind), WIM Deysi Cori Tello (Per), Betul Yildiz (Tur) 9.5/13 each; 8 WIM Padmini Rout (Ind) 8; 10 WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty (Ind) 8; 19 WGM Mary Ann Gomes (Ind) 7; 34 S. Harini (Ind) 5.5...45 players.