Tweet
Calcutta Telegraph, India
Dec 1 2004
Crown for Hari
- Korbut wins girls' U-20 title l Deep in top-10 finish
Harikrishna has followed in the footsteps of idol Anand, who won the
title in 1987
Kochi: Indian Grandmaster P. Harikrishna lifted the world junior
chess crown with 10 points after the 13th and final round on Tuesday.
Harikrishna has followed in the footsteps of his idol Viswanathan
Anand, who won the title in 1987 in Baguio, the Philippines.
Russia's Ekaterina Korbut, with 10.5 points, won the girls' under-20
championship. GM Koneru Humpy had won the girls' world junior crown
in 2002.
Harikrishna was sharing the leaderboard on the penultimate round with
Zhao Jun of China with 9.5 points.
In the last round, however, Harikrishna drew with top seed GM Ferenc
Berkes of Hungary in a Catalan defence in 50 moves, while on the
second board, Zhao went down to Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland in a
closed Sicilian opening in 49 moves.
Fourth seed GM Tigran Petrosian of Armenia defeated IM Elshan
Moradiabadi of Iran in a Catalan defence in 37 moves.
Petrosian took the second spot on better progressive score than Zhao,
who had to be content with the third spot.
`I am delighted to win the world junior title. Though I was
confident, I was a bit tense as I was in a must-win situation,'
Harikrishna said.
On the top board, Harikrishna, playing white, captured a pawn on b7
on the 17th move. Two moves later, he got one more pawn on a7, but
white was forced to give back one pawn on the 27th move.
The game then proceeded to an opposite colour bishops ending with
both sides having lone rooks.
White's one pawn advantage was not sufficient to give the Indian a
point since Ferenc, a former under-18 world champion, was defending
the position with mathematical precision, and the game ended in a
draw after 50 moves.
In another game, Petrosian, playing white, gained some control on the
seventh file after the 20th move, but the Iranian was able to defend
with the exchange of minor pieces. In the resultant end game with
equal pawns, both players agreed for a draw in the 37th move.
Zhao, who posed a threat to Harikrishna by bouncing back to share the
lead after 12th round, lost to Radoslaw in 49 moves.
On the 13th move Radoslaw, playing black, gave an exchange for a pawn
and was able to hold the white position in an underdeveloped
situation which gained black two more pawns by the 24th move.
Playing an exchange down with three pawns, black's bishop proved
stronger than the white rook. Unable to prevent promotion on the `a'
and `b' files, white resigned on the 49th move.
Humpy, the lone girl in the junior boys' category, defeated Artem
Iijin of Russia in a Kings Indian attack after 30 moves.
Besides Harikrishna, Deep Sengupta and Koneru Humpy, finished in the
top ten.
In the girls' championship, Korbut sacrificed a pawn on the 11th move
to gain some attack on the rival king. But after a couple of moves,
Alina Motoc, playing white, was able to trade the queens. In the
middle game black gained one more pawn. White tried a mating by the
20th, but black defended it with a counter attack that bore fruit on
the 37th move.
On the top board, WGM Elisabeth Paehtz, who was jointly leading with
Korbut after the 12th round, was shocked by India's Krutika Nadig in
an English opening in 70 moves, while Eesha Karavade defeated Zhang
Jilin of China in a Ruy Lopez opening in 64 moves.
Paehtz and Karavade finished with 9.5 points each, but the former,
with a superior progressive score, took second place. Karavade,
Nadig, N. Vinuthna and P. Sivasankari did well to finish inside the
top ten.
Dec 1 2004
Crown for Hari
- Korbut wins girls' U-20 title l Deep in top-10 finish
Harikrishna has followed in the footsteps of idol Anand, who won the
title in 1987
Kochi: Indian Grandmaster P. Harikrishna lifted the world junior
chess crown with 10 points after the 13th and final round on Tuesday.
Harikrishna has followed in the footsteps of his idol Viswanathan
Anand, who won the title in 1987 in Baguio, the Philippines.
Russia's Ekaterina Korbut, with 10.5 points, won the girls' under-20
championship. GM Koneru Humpy had won the girls' world junior crown
in 2002.
Harikrishna was sharing the leaderboard on the penultimate round with
Zhao Jun of China with 9.5 points.
In the last round, however, Harikrishna drew with top seed GM Ferenc
Berkes of Hungary in a Catalan defence in 50 moves, while on the
second board, Zhao went down to Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland in a
closed Sicilian opening in 49 moves.
Fourth seed GM Tigran Petrosian of Armenia defeated IM Elshan
Moradiabadi of Iran in a Catalan defence in 37 moves.
Petrosian took the second spot on better progressive score than Zhao,
who had to be content with the third spot.
`I am delighted to win the world junior title. Though I was
confident, I was a bit tense as I was in a must-win situation,'
Harikrishna said.
On the top board, Harikrishna, playing white, captured a pawn on b7
on the 17th move. Two moves later, he got one more pawn on a7, but
white was forced to give back one pawn on the 27th move.
The game then proceeded to an opposite colour bishops ending with
both sides having lone rooks.
White's one pawn advantage was not sufficient to give the Indian a
point since Ferenc, a former under-18 world champion, was defending
the position with mathematical precision, and the game ended in a
draw after 50 moves.
In another game, Petrosian, playing white, gained some control on the
seventh file after the 20th move, but the Iranian was able to defend
with the exchange of minor pieces. In the resultant end game with
equal pawns, both players agreed for a draw in the 37th move.
Zhao, who posed a threat to Harikrishna by bouncing back to share the
lead after 12th round, lost to Radoslaw in 49 moves.
On the 13th move Radoslaw, playing black, gave an exchange for a pawn
and was able to hold the white position in an underdeveloped
situation which gained black two more pawns by the 24th move.
Playing an exchange down with three pawns, black's bishop proved
stronger than the white rook. Unable to prevent promotion on the `a'
and `b' files, white resigned on the 49th move.
Humpy, the lone girl in the junior boys' category, defeated Artem
Iijin of Russia in a Kings Indian attack after 30 moves.
Besides Harikrishna, Deep Sengupta and Koneru Humpy, finished in the
top ten.
In the girls' championship, Korbut sacrificed a pawn on the 11th move
to gain some attack on the rival king. But after a couple of moves,
Alina Motoc, playing white, was able to trade the queens. In the
middle game black gained one more pawn. White tried a mating by the
20th, but black defended it with a counter attack that bore fruit on
the 37th move.
On the top board, WGM Elisabeth Paehtz, who was jointly leading with
Korbut after the 12th round, was shocked by India's Krutika Nadig in
an English opening in 70 moves, while Eesha Karavade defeated Zhang
Jilin of China in a Ruy Lopez opening in 64 moves.
Paehtz and Karavade finished with 9.5 points each, but the former,
with a superior progressive score, took second place. Karavade,
Nadig, N. Vinuthna and P. Sivasankari did well to finish inside the
top ten.