World Youth 2019 Rd.8: In the battle of Indian GMs, Pragg beats Iniyan

by Sagar Shah - 10/10/2019

The eighth round of the World Youth 2019 was a critical one. Some of the leaders are not letting go of their grip of the top spots, while in some sections, motivated players are coming up with back to back wins to stake their claim on the title. Abinandhan continued with yet another win. The 1830 rated youngsters now has a performance of 2598. Praggnanandhaa beat Iniyan to join Aryan Gholami in the lead in under-18 open section. Hans Niemann is unstoppable in the under-16 open. The American chalked up yet another victory. Shuvalova maintains her lead in girls under-18 while there is very little to choose between Nurgali and Garifullina who are both winning their games in girls under-16. A detailed report from Mumbai, India.

Under-14 open - Abinandhan Unstoppable

When 1830-rated Abinandhan reached 6.0/7, everyone felt that it was a good performance, but he will not be able to keep it up. Well, he has a made a good start after the rest day and beat his compatriot Srihari LR (2283) with the black pieces in the Tartakower QGD.

Srihari was unable to match Abinandhan's cool and calm play | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Srihari LR vs Abinandhan

Srihari launched an attack with g4 but Abinandhan met it calmly by just playing ...Ne4

Just to give you an example of how well this youngster is calculating: he took on c4 in this position. Now gxh6 is met with Nxc3 bxc3 and Qf6! with pressure on f3 and also threatening to take on h6 with the queen, keeping the structure intact. If after ...Qf6, White were to play hxg7 then Bxf3 allowing White to take on f8 with a check, as after Kxf8, he will win the rook on h1 and be an entire piece up! Fascinating calculation and judgement by an 1800-rated player.

The knight on d4 is firmly cemented. Black is a pawn up and also the pawn on f2 and h4 are weak. The position is completely lost and Abinandhan converted without any difficulties.

Final moments of Abinandhan's victory over Srihari LR

Sagar Shah caught up with Abinandhan after his game to ask him about his secret of this fantastic performance. There was one thing that Abinandhan revaled - which was that he solved Jacob Aagaard's book on calculation before the event:

If you too would like to play the Tartakower variation in the QGD with black, you can go for Powerplay 23 by Daniel King:

For his excellent opening play and also handling the attack in an accurate manner, Abinandhan wins the best game of the day award by ChessBase | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Quite a huge blunder occurred on board three of the under-14 open section. Sreeshwan Maralakshikari, who is the top seed, was completely dominating his game against Vo Pham Thien Phuc.

Sreeshwan vs Pham Thien

In this position Sreeshwan played the very pretty Qg7+! After Rxg7 hxg7+ Kg8 Rh8+ Kf7, we reach the next critical position of the game.

Sreeshwan, who had 25 minutes, on his clock, in a hurry took the queen on e8. Instead he had a mate in four move which he missed! Can you spot it?

In this video you get to see this critical moment of the game and also we tell you what Sreeshwan missed!

Standings in under 14 open after 8 rounds

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	55		Abinandhan R	IND	1830	7,0	0,0	36,0	40,0	4	6
2	3	IM	Suleymanli Aydin	AZE	2426	6,5	0,0	38,5	42,0	4	5
3	12	FM	Srihari L R	IND	2283	6,0	0,0	38,5	41,5	4	6
4	1	FM	Sreeshwan Maralakshikari	IND	2449	6,0	0,0	37,0	41,0	4	5
5	8	FM	Chyzy Jakub	POL	2327	6,0	0,0	36,0	40,5	4	5
6	13	FM	Morgunov Marc	AUT	2280	6,0	0,0	35,0	38,0	3	4
7	60		Vo Pham Thien Phuc	VIE	1807	6,0	0,0	34,0	38,0	4	4
8	53		Shah Jeet	IND	1844	6,0	0,0	32,0	34,5	4	6
9	17		Kolay Alex	USA	2164	5,5	0,0	40,0	43,5	4	4
10	20	CM	Luczak Filip	POL	2136	5,5	0,0	38,0	42,5	4	4

Under-14 girls - A three-way tie still at the top

The under-14 girls section is going to be closely fought. After eight rounds we have three leaders, all from different countries. Eline Roebers from the Netherlands, Rakshitta Ravi from India and Ekaterina Nasyrova from Russia.

The top board clash between Rakshitta Ravi and Ekaterina Nasyrova ended in a draw | Photo: Amruta Mokal

For her first World Youth Championships, Eline Roebers is doing exceedingly well. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The top seed of the event Divya Deshmukh slumped to a painful defeat against Sarayu Velpula who was rated 600 points below her:

Standings in under 14 girls after 8 rounds

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	5		Roebers Eline	w	NED	2083	6,5	0,0	39,0	43,5	4	5
2	2	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	w	IND	2310	6,5	0,0	39,0	42,5	4	5
3	4	WFM	Nasyrova Ekaterina	w	RUS	2137	6,5	0,0	38,5	43,0	4	5
4	11		Hakobyan Astghik	w	ARM	1978	6,0	0,0	37,0	41,0	3	5
5	30		Velpula Sarayu	w	IND	1717	6,0	0,0	36,5	39,5	4	6
6	3	WFM	Allahverdiyeva Ayan	w	AZE	2160	6,0	0,0	33,5	37,0	4	6
7	16	WCM	Mungunzul Bat-Erdene	w	MGL	1912	6,0	0,0	33,0	35,5	4	5
8	1	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	w	IND	2358	5,5	0,0	37,0	40,5	4	5
9	7		Poliakova Varvara	w	BLR	2042	5,5	0,0	34,5	37,5	3	5
10	12		Wikar Martyna	w	POL	1969	5,5	0,0	34,0	38,0	4	3

Under-16 open: Hans Niemann's bold and creative play continues

After beating his top competitor Rudik Makarian in round 7, Hans Niemann was up against Miguel Angel Soto of Colombia. It was a complex opening where the Colombian looked better prepared. But Hans was confident about his play, sacrificed material without much care, and built up a strong winning attack.

Hans Niemann got the better of Miguel Angel Soto in round 8 of the under-16 open | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Soto vs Niemann, round 8

White has moved his knight to f5 and this line has scored pretty well for White in the past. You must note that because the e6 pawn is pinned, the d5 knight is also hanging. Niemann was unperturbed. He played...Qc7 allowing White to pick up the knight.

The American IM had prepared 0-0-0 here!

Material was the last thing on Niemann's mind in this game!

Hans Niemann will now take on Indian Aronyak Ghosh in round 9 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Rudik Makarian came back strongly in round 8 to beat Olexiy Bilych. He is in sole second position with 6.5/8 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Standings in under 16 open after 8 rounds

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1	IM	Niemann Hans Moke	USA	2439	7,0	0,0	37,0	41,0	4	6
2	7	IM	Makarian Rudik	RUS	2386	6,5	0,0	39,0	43,0	4	6
3	8	CM	Aronyak Ghosh	IND	2380	6,0	0,0	36,5	40,0	4	4
4	20	CM	Kushagra Mohan	IND	2309	6,0	0,0	34,5	37,5	4	4
5	13	IM	Pogosyan Stefan	RUS	2364	5,5	0,0	38,0	41,0	4	3
6	5	FM	Daghli Arash	IRI	2387	5,5	0,0	36,5	40,5	4	5
7	23		Bilych Olexiy	UKR	2281	5,5	0,0	35,0	37,5	4	5
8	9	IM	Raja Rithvik R	IND	2369	5,5	0,0	34,0	37,0	4	4
9	22	FM	Soto Miguel Angel	COL	2283	5,5	0,0	33,5	36,5	4	5
10	4	FM	Gharibyan Mamikon	ARM	2388	5,5	0,0	33,5	36,5	4	4

Two way race - Nurgali or Garifullina

Ever since Garifullina missed her chance to beat Nurgali in round five, the Kazakh girl has been playing excellent chess. In round 8 she beat Romanian Alessia-Mihaela Ciolacu. The end was especially picturesque.

Nurgali Nazerke got the better of her Romanian opponent in round 8 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nurgali vs Ciolacu, round 8

White to move and win!

A picturesque move! The bishop cannot take the pawn as Qe1 would be a mate. The queen cannot take the pawn as Qh5 would be a mate! All that Black could do was resign

Who do you think will come out on top - Garifullina or Nurgali? | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Standings in under 16 girls after 8 rounds

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1	WCM	Garifullina Leya	w	RUS	2330	7,0	0,5	39,0	42,5	4	6
	4	WFM	Nurgali Nazerke	w	KAZ	2194	7,0	0,5	39,0	42,5	4	6
3	7	WFM	Mahdian Anousha	w	IRI	2103	6,5	0,0	38,0	41,0	4	5
4	11	WFM	Salonika Saina	w	IND	2051	6,0	0,0	33,5	36,0	4	5
5	14	WFM	Bommini Mounika Akshaya	w	IND	2017	5,5	0,0	37,0	40,0	5	4
6	9	WFM	Ciolacu Alessia-Mihaela	w	ROU	2095	5,5	0,0	34,5	38,0	4	4
7	6	WFM	Loskutova Viktoriya	w	RUS	2149	5,5	0,0	33,0	36,5	4	5
8	12	WFM	Hajiyeva Laman	w	AZE	2038	5,5	0,0	32,0	35,5	4	4
9	5	WFM	Bulatova Kamaliya	w	RUS	2181	5,5	0,0	32,0	35,0	4	4
10	8	WFM	Srdanovic Jovana	w	SRB	2100	5,5	0,0	31,0	34,5	4	5

Under-18 open: Pragg joins Gholami at the top

After two draws in a row with black pieces, it was time for Praggnanandhaa to fire with the white pieces. His opponent was by no means an easy one. P. Iniyan with an Elo of 2509 is already a grandmaster. It was a psychological battle where both players knew each others strengths and weaknesses very well. When Pragg opened the game with 1.e4, he expected Iniyan to play his usual Sicilian Defence. However, the GM from Erode, decided to go for 1...d6. After a few moves, Pragg was already in driver's seat with dominating knight on e5 square.

The knight on e5 dominates the entire board. The bishop on c8 and the rook on a8 are just spectators!

The tournament director Mr. Ravindra Dongre checks out the proceedings between of India's best players at the event | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The final moments of the tense game

Aryan Gholami was held to a draw by Mitrabha Guha | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Standings in under 18 open after 8 rounds

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	3	IM	Gholami Aryan	IRI	2554	6,5	0,5	37,5	41,5	3	5
2	2	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2567	6,5	0,5	36,5	39,0	4	5
3	1	GM	Sargsyan Shant	ARM	2580	6,0	0,0	37,5	42,0	4	4
4	14	IM	Zarubitski Viachaslau	BLR	2435	6,0	0,0	35,5	39,0	5	5
5	15	IM	Mitrabha Guha	IND	2434	6,0	0,0	35,0	39,0	4	4
6	16	IM	Aditya Mittal	IND	2430	5,5	0,0	36,5	39,5	4	3
7	4	IM	Gazik Viktor	SVK	2546	5,5	0,0	35,0	37,5	4	4
8	38	FM	Sydoryka Vladyslav	UKR	2247	5,5	0,0	34,0	36,0	4	5
9	7	IM	Pultinevicius Paulius	LTU	2503	5,5	0,0	33,5	37,5	4	4
10	11	IM	Blohberger Felix	AUT	2448	5,5	0,0	32,5	36,5	4	5

Girls under-18 - Can anyone stop Shuvalova?

Shuvalova drew her game against Vantika, but is still the leader by a half point margin | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Vantika shows how she managed to escape from the claws of her strong Russian opponent!

The game between Anna Afonasieva (left) and Lara Schulze ended in a draw | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Standings in under 18 girls after 8 rounds

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1	WIM	Shuvalova Polina	w	RUS	2412	6,5	0,0	36,0	38,5	4	5
2	6	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	w	IND	2283	6,0	0,0	36,5	40,5	4	4
3	3	FM	Schulze Lara	w	GER	2327	6,0	0,0	34,0	37,5	4	4
4	10		Yan Tianqi	w	CHN	2236	6,0	0,0	32,0	35,5	4	6
5	7	WGM	Obolentseva Alexandra	w	RUS	2282	6,0	0,0	32,0	35,5	4	4
6	21	WFM	Makhija Aashna	w	IND	2084	5,5	0,0	35,5	38,5	4	3
7	4	WFM	Afonasieva Anna	w	RUS	2312	5,5	0,0	35,0	38,0	4	5
8	2	WIM	Munkhzul Turmunkh	w	MGL	2332	5,5	0,0	34,0	37,0	4	3
9	19	WFM	Urh Zala	w	SLO	2105	5,5	0,0	31,0	32,5	3	5
10	13	WFM	Serikbay Assel	w	KAZ	2208	5,0	0,0	35,5	39,0	3	3

The chief arbiter of the event - Takis Nikolopoulos | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Some worried parents before the round | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Some relaxed parents before the game! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The Russians having a nice time with each other before the round | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The well known "The Hindu" journalist Rakesh Rao, who has been covering this event with great enthusiasm | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Cranberry of Rood fruit. Whats your favourite flavour? | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The importance of sports psychology in chess

Janki Rajapurkar was the guest speaker on 9th of October 2019 for the workshops that are held for the parents and coaches present at the World Youth 2019. Her topic was the importance of psychology for chess players.

Janki Rajapurkar is the co-founder of Samiksha, India's first sports psychology firm and she is also a Ph.D holder in Sports psychology. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

A lot of parents and coaches sat through the session with rapt attention! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The entire talk by Janki Rajapurkar, that can be replayed

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