Blunder costs Swati dear

In the boy8217;s category, top contender International Master P Harikrishna Elo 2500 kept his reputation intact by overcoming Du Shan of China to share the top spot with four others having accumulated two points each from as many games.

Swati, playing with white pieces, opened with e48242; to which Tania replied with c58242; and later the game transposed into a closed Sicilian. On the 18th move Swati, playing in her last junior Asian, doubled b8217; pawns to force the exchange of queens.

Later Swati occupied an open a file with rooks to attack a78242; pawn. On the 33rd move her rival got the isolated d pawn and then won a piece by queening the c8217; pawn on the 44th move which led to Swati8217;s resignation 17 moves later.

Koneru Humpy sidelined fifth seeded Indian compatriot and National women8217;s runner-up S Meenakshi while ninth seed Elena picked-up from where she left against Aarthie in the first round on Wednesday to beat Chauthi Ngoc Giao of Vietnam

IWM and the player with the best Elo rating in the girls section, Aarthie, put behind her surprise loss in the opening round to score over Madina Duisenova of Kazakhstan and earn her first point in two games.

Another IWM Nisha Mohta Elo 2275 failed to edge past China8217;s Yu Ting to split points while Y Pratibha 2097 defeated Feroza Haque Chowdhary of Bangladesh to coast to her first win.

Harikrishna playing with black pieces, got converted into an English opening against Du Shan. The game was level till the 31st move when Hari occupied the open h8217; file and secured the initiative. He later exchanged the rook on h18242; and parity was restored.

But the Chinese boy blundered by playing king to f38242; instead of f28242; and Hari took control of the game to win in 54 moves in a king and pawn ending.

On the second board, the game between the two International Master8217;s Surya Shekhar Ganguly Elo 2498 and compatriot Tejas Bakre 2358 changed into Sicilian Sozin attack with the former playing with white pieces. After an offer of a pawn sacrifice by Bakre, accepted by Ganguly on the 16th move, gave the former good moving space.

He also got back the lost pawn on the 23rd move but then played badly and the two players agreed for a draw in 40 moves.

In another boys8217; clash unrated Indian CJ Arvind surprised all by holding fifth-seeded Indian compatriot Neelotpal Das to a draw in 33 moves.

Results Round II all from India unless stated otherwise:

Boys:

Du Shan China, 1 lost to P Harikrishna 2, Surya Sekhar Ganguly 1.5 drew Tejas Bakre 1.5, Said Rakhimbov Kazak, 1 lost to Ghaem Maghami Iran, 2, Mark Paragua Philip, 2 bt Enamul Hoosein Bangla, 1, CJ Arvind 1.5 drew Neelotpal Das 1.5, Taher Mullajumaa Kuwait, 1 lost to S Satyapragyan 2, Al Sayed Mohammed Qatar, 1 lost to Valay Parikh 2, S Kidambi 1.5 bt Annaberdiev Meillis Turkme, 0, V Kamble 1 bt M Satyajit 0.5, Magesh Chandran 1 bt Anton Filippov Uzbek, 0, PMAB Athukorala Lanka, 0 lost to Arjun Tiwari 1, P Mokal 0 lost to John Paul Gomez Philip, 1, Akshayraj Kore 0 lost to Syed Hassan Pak, 1, Himanshu Kumar 0.5 drew S Ranjan Mishra 0.5.

Girls: Koneru Humpy 2 bt S Meenakshi 1, Yu Ting China, 1.5 drew Nisha Mohota 1.5, Swati Ghate 1 lost to Tania Sachdev 2, Elena Levishkina Uzbek, 2 bt Chauthi Ngoc Giao Vietnam, 0.5, Madina Duisenova Kazak, 0.5 lost to Aarthie Ramaswamy 1, Anupama Konara 0.5 drew Beverly Mendoza Philip, 0.5, Y Pratibha 1 beat Feroza Haque Chowdhary Bangla, 0, P Sivakami O lost to JE Kavitha 1.