The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Sai Krishna shocks Sahaj

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Friday, Nov 10, 2006
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Sai Krishna shocks Sahaj

Arvind Aaron

Chennai: National under-9 champion G.V. Sai Krishna of Vijayawada shocked top seed and former World under-10 champion Sahaj Grover of Delhi in the ninth round of the National under-11 chess championship being played at the Sri Ramachandra Medical College on Thursday.

This unexpected result brings fresh life to the boys' section as six players are in the lead with 7.5 points from nine rounds. They are Sai Krishna (AP), Sahaj (Del), Fenil Shah (Guj), Srikanth Ajay (TN), Shardul Gagare (Mah), Vian D'Cunha (Kar).

Sai Krishna played white and faced the Sicilian Najdorf from Sahaj. The Andhra boy castled queenside and stormed his kingside pawns. The Delhi boy lost pawns at regular intervals and was always in trouble. Sai Krishna turned down black's draw offer on the 31st move and used his pawns and later an extra knight to win the game.

Great escape

Fenil Shah of Gujarat had a great escape when Vian D'Cunha missed a simple trick and lost his extra pawn to allow white to make a draw in 48 moves. The ninth round was eventful and any of these six players in the lead could win the tournament.

Priyanka in lead

Priyanka Kumari of Jharkhand defeated J. Vaishnavi (TN) in 49 moves and re-established her one-point lead in the girls section. Priyanka is on eight points. Srinidhi Nagarajan (TN), Soumya Srivastav (Mah) and B. Pratyusha (AP) are in the joint second place with seven points.

Pratyusha trapped the rook of Gouthami in the queenless middlegame to win in 43 moves and occupy the joint second spot. Just two rounds remain to be played in both sections.

Leading results (ninth round):

Boys: G.V. Sai Krishna (AP) 7.5 bt Sahaj Grover (Del) 7.5, Fenil Shah (Guj) 7.5 drew Vian D'Cunha (Kar) 7.5, Yashas (Kar) 6.5 lost to Srikanth Ajay (TN) 7.5, Shardul Gagare (Mah) 7.5 bt Niraj Saripalli (Goa) 6.5, Shashaank (TN) 7 bt S.S. Manigandan (TN) 6.5, Anurag Mhamal (Goa) 7 bt Dheeraj Kumar (AP) 6, Harsh Karnati (AP) 6 lost to Shiven Khosla (Mah) 7, Tejas (TN) 6 lost to Y.V.K. Chakravarthy (AP) 7, S.V. Srinath (Cha) 6.5 drew with Vaibhav Khanna (Del) 6.5, Yogesh Gautam (Har) 6 lost to Megh Patel (Guj) 7, J.V. Sai Kiran (AP) 5.5 lost to Abhilash Reddy (AP) 6.5, Girish Koushik (Kar) 6.5 bt Mughil Jayavel (TN) 5.5.

Girls: Priyanka Kumari (Jha) 8 bt J. Vaishnavi (TN) 6.5, B. Pratyusha (AP) 7 bt A. Gouthami (AP) 6.5, J. Saranya (TN) 6 lost to Srinidhi (TN) 7, Soumya Srivastav (Mah) 7 bt Deepika (AP) 6, Dharani Sree (TN) 6 drew with P. Sujitha (TN) 6, Agnihothri (Ben) 6.5 bt Sushma (AP) 5.5, J. Akhila (AP) 6 drew with Mahaswetha Kumar (AP) 6, Michelle (TN) 6.5 bt Akshaya (TN) 5.5, Isha Bhave (Mah) 5.5 lost to Janis Maria (Pon) 6, Anjana Krishna (Ker) 5.5 drew P.V. Nandhidhaa (TN) 5.5, Simantini (Mah) 5 lost to V. Janu (TN) 6.

Important results (round eight): Boys: Sahaj Grover drew with Vian D'Cunha, Y.V.K. Chakravarthy lost to Fenil Shah, Niraj Saripalli drew with Yashas, Dheeraj Kumar drew G.V. Sai Krishna.

Girls: Mahaswetha lost to Priyanka, Srinidhi lost to Vaishnavi, A. Gouthami bt Dharani Sree, Deepika bt Michelle.

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