India win four, Tania in line

APRIL 1: Reigning Asian under-14 boys' champion P Harikrishna defended his title in style with a round to spare to lead India's sweep of f...

APRIL 1: Reigning Asian under-14 boys’ champion P Harikrishna defended his title in style with a round to spare to lead India’s sweep of four gold medals while Tania Sachdev also kept herself in line for glory after the eighth round at the Youth Chess championships here.

Former under-10 World champion Harikrishna, garnered seven points establishing a clear lead in his age group while the child prodigies Abhinav Mekala and VK sindhu, both on 7.5 points, also established unassailable leads despite drawing their eighth round games.

Abhijeet Gupta (7.5) outclassed Iran’s B Abdi (4.5) in the ninth round this morning to engrave his name on the boys’ under-12 gold medal – the fourth for India.

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In a Queens Gambit Declined, Abhijeet beat Abdi in 28 moves. In the eighth round Abhijeet downed another Iranian J Maroofi (4.5) with black piece in Sicilian Defence.

Promising Tania Sachdev defeated S Dianat (4.5) of Iran with white pieces to remain joint leader with D Tuitebaeva of Kazakhstan in girls’ under-14. It would be a cliffhanger battle for both the girls in the final round to clinch the gold.

Indians’ chances brightened in the girls’ under-12 also but it would require lot of luck for Soumya Swaminathan to emerge victor.

Soumya (5.5 points) beat LY Jing (4) of China and has a mathematical chance of winning the title – provided other girls ahead of her by half a point loose their last round games and she wins against S Teimoorim (2) of Iran.

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Harikrishna drew with A Akbarinia (5.5) of Iran in English Opening with black pieces and Sayantan Dutta (5.5) beat Iran’s M Ghadirian (4.5) with white pieces in Caro-Cann Defence to brighten his hopes for a medal in the boys’ under-14 section.

In the girls’ under-10, VK Sindhu (7.5) shared point with O Danilyuk (5) of Kazakhstan with white pieces in Queens Gambit Accepted opening. B Jing (6.5) of China is just behind the Indian with a win over A Bedeleh (2) in Sicilian Defence, but regardless of what happens in the final round Sindhu has been assured of the title due to her better progressive score.

Results (Round VIII): Boys U-14:

P Harikrishna (7) drew A Akbarimia (5.5, Iran); Sayantan Dutta (5.5) bt M Ghadirian (4.5, Iran), Sajedi S (5, Iran) bt H Tahamsebi (5.5, Iran). U-12: Abhijeet Gupta (6.5) bt J Maroofi (4.5, Iran); Guan-Gyao G (6, China) bt G Pezeshkian (5, Iran); G Rohit (5.5) bt M Yahia (3.5, UAE). U-10: Abhinav Mekala (7.5) drew Shijie Ch (5, China); Azamatkozubai (6) bt Sadeh Sh (4, Iran), H Tofigi (5.5, Iran) drew F Rakhimov (4.5, Tajikistan).

Girls U-14: Tania Sachdev (6) bt S Dianat (4.5, Iran); Eesha Karavade (5.5) bt T Nguyen (4, Vietnam); D Tuitebaeva (6, Kazakhstan) bt M Alimova (3.5, Turkmenistan). U-12: A Pourkashian (6, Iran) bt QA Nguyen (6, Vietnam); Soumya Swaminathan (5.5) bt L Y Jing (4, China); Kritika Nadig (5) drew J Tilenbaeva (4.5, Kazakhstan). U-10:VK Sindhu (7.5) drew O Danilyuk (5 -Kazakhstan); B Jing (6.5, China) bt A Badeleh (2, Iran).