Gadodia finishes second in U-18

MUMBAI, SEPT 1: The first time experience of participating in a Junior World Chess Championship for the blind turned out to be a rewardin...

MUMBAI, SEPT 1: The first time experience of participating in a Junior World Chess Championship for the blind turned out to be a rewarding experience for 18-year-old Gaurav Gadodia, a first year commerce student of N M College, Mumbai.

Gadodia was declared second in the under-18 category of the tournament organised by the Belgian Chess Federation for the Blind under the aegis of the International Braille Chess Association at Kortrijk, Belgium.

Gadodia finished the tournament with four points from seven rounds, thereby comng in overall 12th in a field of 43 players from 16 countries. In his last round match against Neskovic Bojan of Yugoslavia, Gadodia, playing with the advantage of white pieces, played correctly in the opening to build a clear advantage.

But perhaps due to inexperience, he lost his way in the middle game to let his opponent slip out of his grasp. Gadodia had to settle for a draw and thus fell half-a-point short of winning a prize in the overall category.

SR Mohandas, who hadaccompanied Gadodia as coach, and who was appointed on the tournament8217;s appeals committee, felt that Gadodia could have done better but faltered due to lack of international exposure. Mohandas felt with one international tournament under his belt, Gadodia will be able to do far better against the same field.

Whereas, Gadodia is the first-ever Indian to play at this level in a Junior Championships.

He was given a provisional rating of 1700 by the organisers at the beginning of the tournament. His performance is expected to fetch him at least 50 more points.

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The highlight of the tournament was the extraordinary performance by Devos Piet of Belgium, the No 2 seed. Piet won all his seven matches and had his hands on the trophy at the end of the sixth round, with a round to spare.

For the All India Chess Federation for the Blind, which was responsible for sending Gadodia to Belgium, his performance at that level will help in creating more interest in the sport. The other gain has been the awarding of theAsian Chess Championship for the Blind to India to held in 2000-2001.

Final seventh round results top 10 boards

1 Devos Piet Bel 7 points bt Pavlenko Andrily Ukr 4.5, Stolarczyk Anna Pol 55 drew Hervais Adrien Fra 5.5, Polnar Josef Czech 5 drew Vlach Karel Czech 5, Canals Francese Spain 5 bt Liebenberg W SA 4, Vanur Jan Slovakia 4 lost to M Perica Croatia 5, Pavlovic M Croatia 5 bt Arcas Jordi Spain 3.5, Barnowski S Pol 4.5 bt Filo Stefan Slovakia 3.5, Yunusov Ali Rus 4 drew Subertova V Czech 4, Gaurav Gadodia India 4 drew Neskovic Bojan Yug 3.5, Mrstina David Czech 4 drew Bernik M Slovakia 3.5.

Final placings

1 Devos Piet Belgium, 7, 2 Hervais Adrien France, 5.5, 3 Stolarczyk Anna Poland, 5.5, 4 Vlach Karel Czech Rep, 5, 5 Polnar Josef Czech Rep, 5, 6 Pavlovic Miroslav Croatia, 5, 7 Canals Francese Spain, 5, 8 Mihaljevic Perica Croatia, 5, 9 Pavlenko Andriy Ukraine, 4.5, 10 Barnowski Sylwester Poland, 4.5, 11 SubertovaVeronika Czech Rep, 4, 12 Gaurav Gadodia India, 4.