World Youth 2019 Rd.10: How many medals can India win?

by Amruta Mokal - 12/10/2019

The penultimate round of the World Youth Championships 2019 was filled with action. Praggnanandhaa continued his sprint towards the title in under-18 open section by winning his game against Paulius Pultinevicius. Shant Sargsyan was saved by the skin of his teeth against Mitrabha Guha and is still right on the heels of Praggnanandhaa. Polina Shuvalova keeps her lead intact in girls under-18. Nazerke Nurgali has finally managed to edge out Leya Garifullina in girls under-16 and Rudik Makarian has taken the sole lead in under-16 open. Aydin Suleymanli from Azerbaijan leads in the open under-14 while Bat-Erdene Mungunzuul has come strongly to the top as the sole leader in girls under-14. Last round to be played on 12th of October when the 18 medal winners will be decided.

The penultimate round is always quite tense as there is a lot at stake! Players who are playing on the top boards and can squeeze out a full point here are often excellently placed for winning a medal. What are the chances of Indians winning a medal?

Under-14 open: Srihari and Abinandhan are on places two and three. They have excellent chances of winning a medal. But both of them have strong opponents. While Srihari faces the Vietnamese prodigy Vo Pham Thien Phuc, Abinandhan will take on Sreeshwan Maralakshikari, the top seed!

Under-14 girls: This is a section where India's chances of medal look dim. But Divya and Rakshitta are on places five and six and they are facing opponents who have more points than them. If both of them can win, and some results pan out in their favour, they may win a medal here!

Under-16 open: Aronyak Ghosh is on the second spot and is facing the strong Iranian IM Arash Daghli. Aronyak has good chances to win a medal and an outside chance also lies from Kushagra Mohan who is currently on 6th place.

Under-16 girls: Saina Salonika and Akshaya Bommini Mounika are on places four and five. They are in with a chance to win bronze, as the gold and silver in this section is out of their reach now.

Under-18 open: Praggnanandhaa is in sole lead. He also has the white pieces and should be able to take back home the gold medal. Arjun Kalyan is on 6th place and if he manages to win against GM Shant Sargsyan today, he can win a medal.

Under-18 girls: Vantika Agrawal has the best chance here as she is currently on second position behind Polina Shuvalova.

All in all it seems like Pragg, Aronyak, Vantika, Srihari or Abinandhan have excellent chances. We can expect four medals here, but if things work out well, then the tally could even grow!

Let's have a look at how things panned out in round 10:

Standings after Round 10 of under-18 Open

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	2	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2567	8,5	0,0	59,0	63,0	5	7
2	1	GM	Sargsyan Shant	ARM	2580	8,0	0,0	60,5	66,0	5	6
3	3	IM	Gholami Aryan	IRI	2554	7,5	0,0	58,0	62,5	4	6
4	12	IM	Buckels Valentin	GER	2442	7,0	0,0	55,5	61,0	5	5
5	17	IM	Davtyan Artur	ARM	2418	7,0	0,0	55,0	58,5	5	5
6	8	IM	Arjun Kalyan	IND	2483	7,0	0,0	54,0	58,5	5	6
7	15	IM	Mitrabha Guha	IND	2434	6,5	0,0	58,0	63,0	4	4
8	16	IM	Aditya Mittal	IND	2430	6,5	0,0	57,5	62,5	5	4
9	7	IM	Pultinevicius Paulius	LTU	2503	6,5	0,0	54,5	59,0	5	5
10	4	IM	Gazik Viktor	SVK	2546	6,5	0,0	52,5	56,5	6	5

The team of officials inaugurate round 10 on the top board of the under-18 section. | Photo: Amruta Mokal | Photo: Amruta Mokal

No draws on top boards! Praggnanandhaa beat Pultinevicius and confirmed a medal for India whereas Sargsyan Shant beat Mitraba Guha taking the second spot for now | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Praggnanandhaa vs Pultinevicius

c4!? was a well timed decision by Pragg. You may feel that after dxc4 bxc4 b4, the pawn on c4 is weak and the knight on c5 is very strongly placed. But Pragg had seen it beforehand that the knight on c5 is not stable and can be evicted with Nb3, when either Black has to take on b3 and give White a protected passer or move from c5, when the c-pawn starts marching down the board.

c6 by Pragg in this position was a mistake because Black could take Rxc6 Rdxc6 Bxc6 Bxa6 Ra8! Bxc8 Rxa5 Rxc6 and it seems like White is simply a piece up, but...

...b3!! This is the point that is easy to miss! This would help Black to save the draw!

Pultinevicius took on c6 with his bishop and after Bxa6 everything was fine for White. Pragg went on to win the game.

With a great interest and stamina explaining the game for the viewers and never disappointing someone for autographs and selfies! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Praggnanandhaa explains his round 10 win

For his efforts Praggnanandhaa wins the best game of the day award by ChessBase!

Shant Sargsyan scored a lucky victory in the tenth round. He was completely lost in the endgame against Mitrabha Guha. But Mitrabha hallucinated for a move and it was all over!

Guha vs Sargsyan

White is completely winning here. He is a pawn up and has the bishop pair

After a few inaccuracies it was already time to start thinking about a draw here with Bxd2 followed by taking on c6. However, Mitrabha took on c6 allowing Black to queen. What was the point of his play? Isn't the bishop on d5 hanging with a check? Well, he played his bishop back to f3.

But after Qc2 he had to throw in the towel as cxb7 is met with Bd4! White can make a queen, but there is mate coming up! Mitrabha resigned.

Standings after Round 10 of under-18 Girls

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1	WIM	Shuvalova Polina	w	RUS	2412	8,0	0,0	57,5	61,0	5	6
2	6	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	w	IND	2283	7,5	0,0	58,5	63,0	5	5
3	7	WGM	Obolentseva Alexandra	w	RUS	2282	7,0	0,0	56,5	61,5	5	4
4	19	WFM	Urh Zala	w	SLO	2105	7,0	0,0	54,5	56,0	5	6
5	13	WFM	Serikbay Assel	w	KAZ	2208	7,0	0,0	54,0	58,0	5	5
6	3	FM	Schulze Lara	w	GER	2327	6,5	0,0	56,5	62,0	4	4
7	2	WIM	Munkhzul Turmunkh	w	MGL	2332	6,5	0,0	56,0	60,0	5	3
8	10		Yan Tianqi	w	CHN	2236	6,5	0,0	54,5	58,5	6	6
9	4	WFM	Afonasieva Anna	w	RUS	2312	6,5	0,0	54,5	57,5	5	6
10	18	WFM	Kucharska Honorata	w	POL	2114	6,5	0,0	53,0	57,0	4	4

Polina Shuvalova maintained her half point lead after defeating Lara Schulze on board One | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Vantika Agrawal chases the top spot with a crucial win over Yan Tianqi. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Vantika Agrawal speaks about her win over Yan Tianqi

Standings of Round 10 of under-16 Open

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	7	IM	Makarian Rudik	RUS	2386	8,0	0,0	60,0	64,0	5	7
2	8	CM	Aronyak Ghosh	IND	2380	7,5	0,0	57,0	61,0	4	5
3	13	IM	Pogosyan Stefan	RUS	2364	7,5	0,0	56,5	60,5	5	5
4	5	FM	Daghli Arash	IRI	2387	7,5	0,0	55,0	59,5	5	7
5	1	IM	Niemann Hans Moke	USA	2439	7,0	0,0	59,5	64,0	5	6
6	20	CM	Kushagra Mohan	IND	2309	7,0	0,0	59,5	63,0	5	4
7	19	FM	Cardoso Cardoso Jose Gabriel	COL	2313	7,0	0,0	51,0	55,0	5	7
8	17	FM	Moksh Amit Doshi	IND	2328	6,5	0,0	57,0	61,5	5	5
9	9	IM	Raja Rithvik R	IND	2369	6,5	0,0	55,0	59,5	5	4
10	23		Bilych Olexiy	UKR	2281	6,5	0,0	54,0	58,0	5	6

The American Hans Niemann suffered a loss against Arash Daghli of Iran | Photo: Amruta Mokal

It was a King's Indian where White seemed to have made early inroads on the queenside. But it turns out that although White broke through on the queenside, the real action was on the kingside where Arash Daghli struck with his pawns, typical of the King's Indian.

Rudik Makarian sailed ahead with his victory against Harshavardan G. He is now the sole leader in under-16 open | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Standings of Round 10 of under-16 Girls

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	4	WFM	Nurgali Nazerke	w	KAZ	2194	8,5	0,0	58,5	63,5	5	7
2	1	WCM	Garifullina Leya	w	RUS	2330	8,0	0,0	61,5	66,5	5	6
3	7	WFM	Mahdian Anousha	w	IRI	2103	7,0	0,0	60,0	65,0	5	5
4	11	WFM	Salonika Saina	w	IND	2051	7,0	0,0	58,5	62,5	5	5
5	14	WFM	Bommini Mounika Akshaya	w	IND	2017	7,0	0,0	57,5	61,0	6	5
6	2	WFM	Beydullayeva Govhar	w	AZE	2289	7,0	0,0	57,0	61,0	5	6
7	22	WFM	Demchenko Svitlana	w	CAN	1953	7,0	0,0	55,0	58,0	5	6
8	5	WFM	Bulatova Kamaliya	w	RUS	2181	7,0	0,0	54,5	58,0	5	5
9	10		Zhang Xiao	w	CHN	2053	7,0	0,0	51,5	55,5	5	5
10	12	WFM	Hajiyeva Laman	w	AZE	2038	6,5	0,0	55,5	60,0	5	5

The draw between the top board Zhang Xiao and Garifullina Leya made it possible for Nurgali to get the sole lead after defeating Hajiyeva Laman on board two | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nazerke Nurgali from Kazakhstan is the sole leader in girls under-16 going into the final round. She had some nervy moments in the tenth round, but finally managed to come out on top! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nurgali vs Hajieva

Black to play and win!

Standings of Round 10 of under-14 open

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	3	IM	Suleymanli Aydin	AZE	2426	8,0	0,0	62,5	68,0	5	6
2	12	FM	Srihari L R	IND	2283	7,5	0,0	61,5	64,5	5	7
3	55		Abinandhan R	IND	1830	7,5	0,0	60,0	66,0	5	6
4	17		Kolay Alex	USA	2164	7,5	0,0	58,5	63,0	4	6
5	13	FM	Morgunov Marc	AUT	2280	7,5	0,0	57,5	61,5	5	5
6	60		Vo Pham Thien Phuc	VIE	1807	7,5	0,0	56,0	61,0	5	5
7	1	FM	Sreeshwan Maralakshikari	IND	2449	7,0	0,0	58,5	63,0	5	6
8	53		Shah Jeet	IND	1844	7,0	0,0	52,5	55,5	5	7
9	4	FM	Tsvetkov Andrey	RUS	2382	7,0	0,0	49,0	52,0	4	6
10	29		Amanzhol Sultan	KAZ	2032	7,0	0,0	48,0	51,0	5	7

Aydin Suleman drew with Vo Pham Thien Phuc who is on a blazing streak by increasing 256 points and a whopping performance of 2438! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Suleymanli vs Vo Pham

The game saw many ups and downs, but in this final position where the players repeated their moves with Qe1 Rf1 Qe5 Rf5, Vo Pham (Black) could have continued the game with Qd6! The main point being that Rxd5 is met with ...Re8! and Black is winning!

Jeet Shah, the local boy from Mumbai, has played really well and is gaining 170 Elo points

Standings of Round 10 of under-14 Girls

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	16	WCM	Mungunzul Bat-Erdene	w	MGL	1912	8,0	0,0	55,0	58,5	5	7
2	5		Roebers Eline	w	NED	2083	7,5	0,0	60,0	65,0	4	6
3	4	WFM	Nasyrova Ekaterina	w	RUS	2137	7,5	0,0	58,5	63,0	5	6
4	8	WFM	Kamalidenova Meruert	w	KAZ	2025	7,5	0,0	55,5	60,5	5	6
5	1	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	w	IND	2358	7,0	0,0	60,0	65,5	5	6
6	2	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	w	IND	2310	7,0	0,0	60,0	64,5	5	5
7	30		Velpula Sarayu	w	IND	1717	7,0	0,0	57,0	60,5	5	7
8	3	WFM	Allahverdiyeva Ayan	w	AZE	2160	7,0	0,0	55,0	58,5	5	7
9	26		Bhagyashree Patil	w	IND	1802	7,0	0,0	54,0	58,5	5	6
10	21	WCM	Ince Safiye Oyku	w	TUR	1840	6,5	0,0	58,5	62,5	5	5

Eline Roebers was defeated by Bat-Erdene Mungunzul who now becomes a sole leader with 8.0/10 for the first time in this event | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The Indian duo who drew with each other is still in contention for the medal and will face the leaders in the last round | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The Chess Players flaunting and styling their chess! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Mr Samir Yagnik, the executive director of Electra EV with the tournament director Ravindra Dongre | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Three different professions come together! Chess is fun! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Talks by Experts

IM Sagar Shah was the final speaker on 11th of October and he spoke about "What stopped him from becoming a GM"

The entire talk by Sagar can be replayed here

The session was attended by many coaches and parents, including Sagar's parents as well!

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