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Journalism of Courage
Mumbai, August 30: Expect the unexpected! But, for sure, the top contender in the girls under-19 category, Aarthie Ramaswamy (Elo rating 2319) may never have thought she would begin campaign in the Kalnirnay Asian Junior Chess Championship on such a bizarre note.
The under-18 World champion was taught a lesson in the very first round by Uzbekistan girl Elena Levushkina at the Avion Hotel here on Wednesday. On the other hand, International Women Master Koneru Humpy, Nisha Mohota and International Master P Harikrishna made smooth starts on a day of mixed fortunes for India.
It was a disappointing start for Aarthie who opened with the e4′ pawn to which Uzbek Elena replied with Petroff defence — copycat system. Aarthie blundered on the 24th move Bf5′. Elena replied with Qc6′ to force exchange of queens and also left two white pieces in precarious position.
Elena eventually clinched victory after 29 moves when Aarthie decided to call it quits.
Koneru with the second best rating in the championship sidelined unrated Filippino girl Beverly Mendoza in 38 moves. Beverly began with e4′ to which Humpy answered with c6′. The game later transposed into Caro-Kann Pano-Botvinnik variation.
In the middle game Humpy got control of the c’ file. On the 31st move her rival lost an isolated d’ pawn. Beverly later got back the lost pawn, before losing the game under time pressure on the 38th move.
The consistent International Women Master Swati Ghate continued with her form that brought her second spot in the National championship to beat compatriot JE Kavitha. The fourth International Woman Master in the fray, Nisha Mohta outclassed Y Pratibha in an all-Indian affair.
In the under-19 boys’ section, title-favourite and International Master P Harikrishna, playing white, outclassed Vikramaditya Kamble in 39 moves.
The most sought after player in the championship, Harikrishna started with d4′ to which Kamble replied with the King’s Indian Gallagher system. Kamble blundered on the 20th move by exchanging his knight on b6′ with his rival’s misplaced knight on a4′.
Kamble’s position progressively weakened and he was found clueless about his next move on many occassions. He was forced to resign on the 39th move.
India’s Tejas Bakre, an International Master (IM), defeated Sri Lanka’s PMAB Athukorala while his compatriots Valay Parikh and CJ Arvind got the better of their Australian and Pakistani rivals Mathew Sonter and Syed Hassan respectively.
India’s Arjun Tiwari and Mahesh Chandran lost to their rivals Mark Paragua of the Philippines and Ghaem Maghami of Iran respectively.
In other matches the host nation’s Himanshu Kumar and SR Misra lost to Enamul Hossain of Bangladesh and Qatar’s Al Sayed Mohammed.
In two other all-India clashes IM Neelotpal Das prevailed over Prathmesh Mokal while Satyapragyan defeated Akshayraj Kore.
Results (Girls Round I): Levushkina Elena (Uzb-1 pts) bt R Aarathi (Ind-0), K Humpy (Ind-1) bt Beverly Mendoza (Phi-0), Nisha Mohota (Ind-1) bt Y Pratibha (Ind-0), Swathi Ghate (Ind-1) bt JE Kavitha (Ind-0), S Meenakshi (Ind-1) bt Anupama Konara (Sri Lanka-0), Yu Ting (Chi-1) bt Feroza Haque (B’desh-0), Chaungol Giao (Uze-.5) drew with Madina Duisenova (Kaz-.5) and Tania Sachdev (Ind-1) bt P Sivakami (Ind-0).
Boys (Round I): P Harikrishna (Ind-1) bt Vikramaditya Kamble (Ind-0), Ghaem Maghami (Ira-1) bt Mahesh Chandran (Ind-0), Paraguo Mark (Phi-1) bt Arjun Tiwari (Ind-0), Neelotpal Das (ind-1) bt Prathmesh Mukal (Ind-0), Al Sayed Mohammed (Qat-1) bt SR Mishra (Ind-0), M Satyajit (Ind-.5) drew with S Kidambi (Ind-.5), Satyapragyan (Ind-1) bt Akshya Kore (Ind-0), Tejas Bakre (Ind-1) bt Athukorala (Sri Lanka-0), Du Shan (Chi-1) bt Filippov Anton (Phi-0), Enamuel Hossain (B’desh-1) bt Himanshu Kumar (Ind-0), Said Rakhimbov (Kaz-1)bt John Paul Gomez (Phi-0), Valay Parikh (Ind-1) bt Mathew Sonter (Aus-0) and CJ Arvind (Ind-1) bt Syed Hassan (Pak-0).
