Expect many more changes in the fight for the title during the final
rounds of World Junior Championship where Arik Braun recaptured the
lead after defeating Wesley So while Maxim Rodshtein lost against Truon
Nguyen. Now Braun has 8.5 points followed by 6 players: David Howell,
Eltaj Safarli, Maxim Rodshtein, Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen , Abhijeet Gupta
and Parimarjan Negi. So, expect many more thrillers in teh final two
rounds!
In the World Junior Girls Championship home-side star Kübra Öztürk's
march to the top was halted calmly by Harika Dronavalli who captured
the sole lead once again with 9 points followed by Mariya Muzychuk who
failed to win against Zoja Severiukhina of Russia. The top two seeds
are followed Georgian Miranda Mikadze has 8 points and follows the two
players.
Players on the way to the tournament hall...
Closing to the final rounds, the tension increases in the World Junior Championship. The leader changed hands again after Vietnamese grandmaster Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen defeated Maxim Rodshtein in the fashionable e3 line of Slav. The game seemed to be level but suddenly the players pulled their swords out and drew blood starting from the position on the left where black played 21...a4. 22.Na4 Rd1 23.Nc5 Rb1 24.Ne6 Re1 25. Ng5 Ra2 26.Nf7 Bc7 27.Bg6 Ra5 28.Ng5 Bd6 29.e4 1-0
Arik Braun
Arik Braun regained the lead again after a Qc2 Nimzo-Indian with white pieces, which reminds the position of the variation employed in the match between Peter Leko and Mikhail Gurevich with the crucial difference of the development of the white knight via h3. White already had a decent position where black gave away a pawn and a few moves later collapsed by a worse blunder.
No problems in terms of handshake!
Chao Li's sideline Najdorf against Parimarjan Negi did not work well, since black emerged out of the opening in a comfortable position and able to grasp one of the weak pawns. During the rest of the game, the Indian youngster converted the advantage and won another crucial game.
The final minutes of Parimarjan and Chao Li
David Howell grounded the Croatian grandmaster Ante Brkic in an Alapin Sicilian where black captured a pawn which mean he sacrificed the knight against some number of pawns, nevertheless, the compensation was not enought and the natural-born figher from England won the game.
David Howell
Denes Boros blundered some valuable material against Abhijeet Gupta in a complex Slav with g3 which obviously helped the clear victory of the Indian grandmaster who will now play on the first board against Arik Braun.
FM Vinicius Tine Martins (Brazil)
Vishal Sareen, Sahaj Grover and Abhijeet Gupta
WFM Silvia-Raluca Sgircea from Romania
IA and accompanying person here Hassan Khaled and Bassem Amin
Azerbaijani players are always on good terms with the Turkish players as you can see from the friendly mood in the conversation between Turkan Mamedyarova, Kübra Öztürk and Betül Cemre Yıldız
Maria Muzychuk could not overcome Zoja Seveirukhina
Slavisa Iliç (Bosnia i Hercegonvina)
Narmin Kazımova (Azerbaijan)
WFM Katrine Tjolsen (Norway)
Namig Ismailov, Nazi Paikidze and Marie Boyarchenko
Denis Rombaldoni, Fabio Bruno, Daniele Vocaturo ve Nicolo Ronchetti (Italy)
Harika Dronavalli kibitzing Hou Yifan
Others say "Pepsi Generation" about them so they comply with that...Aljandro Ramirez and Rauf Mamedov at the left end.
Hou Yifan pondering for a nice move against Rauf Mamedov.
Harika Dronavalli Still Strong in the Lead After Outplaying The Home Side
In World Junior Girls Championship, Turkish chess fans watched the encounter between the top seed and the leader of the event Harika Dronavalli against Kübra Öztürk who has had an outstanding tournament so far. However, credit to the strong opponent of Kübra, Harika managed to have a comfortable position immediately after the opening and was playing for white's weak isolated d-pawn. Black managed to apply her concept of attacking the d-pawn, and white tried to react against this plan but even though she played correctly a practically difficult position with dim chances of organizing a decent attack for white did not seem that promising nevertheless.
Andrew Karpidis starting the clock.
Severiukhina managed to hold Muzychuk to a draw which meant Harika was alone at the top once again. Neither side were not able to creat a real play because of the balanced fight therefore the game ended as a draw.
The game between Miranda Mikadze and Katerina Nemcova was a very exciting one which ended as a draw but one of the real thrillers of the round. Both sides took the risks in position where kings castled on the opposite flanks in order to win. Black won a pawn towards the time control but that did not prove enough for the Czech player after the unlucky blunder for her but showing that it was the fortunate day for the other fighter of the day from Georgia.
Zoja Severiukhina
Guliskhan Nakhbayeva won against Narmin Kazimova in an English opening after her opponents blunder after which black lost a bishop and as a result the Azerbaijani player had 7.5 points and equalized her points with her opponent.
|
