SDAT-RAMCO 50th World Junior & 29th Junior Girls Chess Championships 2011

CHENNAI: Seventh seed Robert Hovhannisyan of Armenia ended the dream run of Girish Koushik to emerge as the sole leader with eight points after nine rounds in the SDAT-Ramco world junior chess championship here on Thursday.

Playing black, Hovhannisyan was defensive at the start and then played aggressively to defeat Girish in 46 moves in a well fought encounter. Girish, who missed some attacking chances, shares third place with Swiercz of Poland on seven points.

In the second position, on 7.5 points, is Hovhannisyan's compatriot Samvel Ter-Sahakyan, who crushed Ivan Salgado of Spain in 34 moves. Adhiban, who played a 48-move draw with the black pieces against Azerbaijan's Durarbeyli, is in joint fifth place with 6.5 points.

Narayanan's upset win

S.L. Narayanan pulled off a sensational upset victory over IM Kacper Piorun of Poland in 64 moves. Narayanan, trained by Koshy was on the defensive with the black pieces in a king's Indian defence. Piorun opened the position up and exposed his king in a queen and double rook game that Narayanan exploited well to win a rook. Narayanan, who had earlier completed the IM norm, can make it a GM norm if he continues winning.

V.A.V. Rajesh, who started all the upsets in this event, completed his third and final IM norm. He now has to reach the 2400 rating to earn this title.

Deysi on top

In the girls section, former World under-16 champion Cori Deysi of Peru wrested sole lead with a 44-move attacking win over top seed Nazi Paikidze of Georgia.

Cori is half a point ahead of Olga Girya of Russia, who could only draw to reach 7.5 points. Olga drew with her team-mate Semenova after the stipulated 30 move rule. Semenova completed her WIM norm.

Indian girls failed to make progress. Title hope Padmini Rout had a huge attack going but it did not yield the desired result. She had to fight hard, after losing a piece, to draw with black against Klaudia Kulon of Poland in 59 moves. Padmini is on six points.

National sub-junior champion, Michelle Catherina, upset Asian junior girls champion Bhakti Kulkarni in 32 moves with the white pieces for her second WIM.

Important results (round nine, Indians unless stated): Open: Girish Koushik (7) lost to R. Hovhannisyan (Arm) 8; Ter-Sahakyan (Arm) 7.5 bt I. Salgado (Esp) 6; A. Rombaldoni (Ita) 6.5 lost to Swiercz (Pol) 7; Durarbeyli (Aze) 6.5 drew with B. Adhiban (6.5); Ray Robson (USA) 6.5 bt M. Shyam Sundar (5.5); Grandelius Nils (Swe) 6 drew with Vidit Gujrathi (6); Martinovic (Cro) 6.5 bt F. Urkedal (Nor) 5.5; M. Roganovic (Srb) 6 bt M. Matlakov (Rus) 5. Anwesh Upadhyaya (5.5) drew with Sjugirov (Rus) 5.5; Shimanov (Rus) 6 bt Vaibhav Suri (5).

S.P. Sethuraman (6) bt Nicolai Getz (Nor) 5; Ramnath Bhuvanesh (5) lost to Rasulov (Aze) 6; Huschenbeth (Ger) 6 bt M. Kunal (5); Piorun (Pol) 5 lost to S.L. Narayanan (6); Jan Krejci (Cze) 6 bt M.G. Gahan (5); Swayams Mishra (5) lost to S. Grover (6); Burak Firat (Tur) 5.5 drew with M.R. Lalith Babu (5.5); K. Praneeth Surya (5) lost to Salem A.R. Saleh (UAE) 6.

Girls: Semenova (Rus) 6.5 drew with Olga Girya (Rus) 7.5; Cori Deysi (Per) 8 bt Nazi Paikidze (Geo) 5.5; Irina Bulmaga (Rom) 6 lost to Mammadova (Aze) 6.5; Kulon Klaudia (Pol) 6 drew with Padmini Rout (6); Kazimova (Aze) 5.5 lost to Kubra Ozturk (Tur) 6.5; Ljkamsuren (Mgl) 5.5 lost to Inna Agrest (Swe) 6; C. Divyasree 5.5 drew with Savina Anastasia (Rus) 5.5. Michelle Catherina (6) bt Bhakti Kulkarni (5); Hoang Thi Nhu (Vie) 6 bt Juliana Terai (Bra) 5; Ivana Furtado (5) lost to Dogodkina (Rus) 6; Olsarova (Cze) 5 drew with P.V. Nandhidhaa (5).

Pon N. Krithikha (4.5) lost to J. Saranya (5.5); Shweta Gole (4) lost to Vo Thi Kim Phung (Vie) 5; Arunima Kalra (4) lost to R. Bharathi (5); Imeeva (Rus) 4 lost to B. Pratyusha (5); Hema Priya (4) lost to A. Martinez 5.