The Hindu : Rohit, Praneetha and Sahithi keep their date with titles

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 13, 2003

Sport

Sport - Chess

Rohit, Praneetha and Sahithi keep their date with titles

By P.K. Ajith Kumar

KOZHIKODE JUNE 12. Some people will never let you down. The Bangladesh cricketers for instance. You can always put your money on the team they play against.

You can also always trust India's young whizkids on the 64 squares, especially when they play at the Asian age-group competitions. You can bet they'll sweep the medals.

But not even a Grandmaster could have predicted that they would pick up half of the total titles at stake at the Asian youth chess championship with a round to spare. India is assured of a fourth title too, in the boys' under-10 category.

On a grey Thursday afternoon at Hotel Asam Tower, G. Rohit, Lakshmi Praneetha and P. Lakshmi Sahithi — all from Andhra — won the boys' under-14, the girls' under-12 and the girls' under-10 titles, respectively, in style. Both the girls became champions with a creditable score of six out of six.

While they won all their six games, Rohit dropped just half-a-point, because of his draw with compatriot Abhijeet Gupta. When the two signed their peace treaty on the top board, after 23 moves of King's Indian Defence, the boys' under-14 title hadn't quite yet been settled. For, the second board clash between top seed Nguyen Ngoc Truong and Rahul Sangma was far from over.

Only if that game had ended in a draw, could Rohit have won his maiden international title today itself. He was taking lunch, when Narasimha Rao, a coach from his State, told him the good news: the game on the second board was drawn, in a minor piece ending, after 60 moves of Caro-Kann Defence.

For the two Lakshmies though, there were no such anxious moments. Lakshmi Praneetha registered the biggest win of her young career yet by checkmating Bhakti Kulkarni in 34 moves of Queen's Pawn Opening. Her job was made easier by her rival, who contrived to lose a piece on the 30th move.

Lakshmi Sahithi was also a piece up, against Kiruba H. Arasu. But she had won it the hard way, employing some tactics, after adopting Sicilian Defence. White was resigned after 50 moves, with mate just one move away. Lakshmi thus retained the title she won last year at Teheran.

The three titles still to be decided are the girls' under-14, the boys' under-12 and the boys' under-10. And the possibility of an Indian cleansweep cannot be ruled out. But Vietnam could spoil India's party.

J. Rajasurya has maintained her sole lead, with five points, in the girls' under-14 event, after drawing with Soumya Swaminathan from an inferior position. Y. Sandeep and Le Quang Liem are still leading the boys' under-12, after they drew their game on the top board.

Defending champion Parimarjan Negi, N. Srinath, S.P. Sethuraman, S. Ravi Teja, K. Priyadarshan and Viani Antonio D'Cunha share the lead in the boys' under-10, with 4.5 points each.

The results (sixth round; Indians unless specified):

Boys:

Under-14: Abhijeet Gupta 4.5 drew with G. Rohit 5.5; Rahul Sangma 4.5 drew with Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Vie) 4.5; R. Premnath 3.5 lost to D. Sai Srinivas 4.5; G.N. Gopal 4.5 bt K. Vijay Keerthi 3; Nur Sultan Baltabayev 3.5 drew with Toufighi Taimijani Homayon (IRI) 3.5; Vishal Shah 3.5 bt T.U. Naveen Kanna 3; G. Balachandar 3.5 bt Aswin Jayaram 2.5; Nguyen Viet Chung 2 lost to M. Suraj 3.5; T.V. Vijaya Raghavan 2.5 drew with Behmardi Kalantari Rostam (IRI) 2.5; Ankit Chauhan 2 lost to P. Saravana Krishnan 3; Joshua Tan Hoong Yu (Mal) 2 lost to R. Srinivasan 3; K.V. Ven Prakash 2 lost to P. Karthikeyan 3; Sanchit Chauhan 2 drew with I.T. Palawatta (Sri) 2.5; Aman Chahal 1.5 lost to Akshay Bhor 2.5.

Under-12: Le Quang Liem (Vie) 5 drew with Y. Sandeep 5;

Navneet Sharma 3.5 lost to K. Narayanan 4.5; R. Ashwath 4 bt B. Adithya 3; Rollan Mankeyev 4 bt S. Nitin 3; P.P. Prachura 4 bt Abhishek Kelkar 3; Yuzvendra S. Chahal 2.5 lost to B. Adhiban 3.5; S. Karthikeyan 2 lost to R. Mahudeeswaran 3; R. Adithya Vikas 2.5 drew with Swapnil A. Shah 2.5; P. Sai Sashank 2 lost to Amogh Kamli 3; Sankalp Modwal 3 bt Abhishek Ravi 1.5; Mofathami Mohammed Reza (IRI) 1 lost to Shakthi Ediriweera (Sri) 1.5.

Under-10: N. Srinath 4.5 lost to S.P. Sethuraman 4.5; Udesi Aditya 3.5 lost to Parimarjan Negi 4.5; S. Ravi Teja 4.5 bt Sanjay Dhaval 3.5; Viani Antonio D'Cunha 4.5 bt Omkar Sanjay Davate 3.5; K. Priyadarshan 4.5 bt Sahaj Grover 3; Fenil Shah 4 bt Chua Zheng Yuan Terry (Sng) 3; Wong Tsui Hern Daryl (Sng) 3.5 drew with G. Madhukiran 3; Koohestani Mohammed Azad Shahin (IRI) 3.5 bt Oshadhi V. Kottarachchi (Sri) 2.5; Vishal Thakre 2.5 lost to Mirzaei Saleh (IRI) 3.5; Christer Jon Alpin (Sng) 2.5 drew with M.A. Akila Hemal Ratnayake (Sri) 2.5; A. Balkishan 3 bt Maksat Tuietayev (Kaz) 2; Fong Yip Siang 1.5 lost to Lam Thanh Nhon (Vie) 2.5; Chan Yi Ren Daniel 1.5 drew with Ankit R. Rajpara.

Girls:

Under-14: Soumya Swaminathan 4 drew with J. Rajasurya 5; H.P. Pallavi Maiya 4.5 drew with Luong Nhat Linh (Vie) 4.5; N. Raghavi 4 bt Pham Bich Ngoc (Vie) 4; Anjana N. Sowjanya 3 lost to Saheli Nath 4; Kiran Monisha Mohanty 3 lost to S. Harini 3.5; V.K. Sindhu 3 drew with Saba A. Mhate 3; G. Pratheeka 2.5 drew with Mary Ann Gomes 2.5; Ketaki Kulkarni 3 bt S. Roshni 2; H. Sowmya 2.5 bt K. Nayana Rao 1.5; Yasoda Gamage 1.5 lost to Kajri Choksi 2.

Under-12: Bhakti Kulkarni 3 lost to Lakshmi Praneetha 6; Ngo Die Hoa 3.5 lost to I. Ramya Krishna 5; M. Pragna Patvi 4 drew with Pon. N. Krithika 3.5; Manogna 3.5 bt P.K. Jayasree 3; Mitali Patil 3 drew with Dhara Gupta 3; Vindya Udan Hemanthake (Sri) 2.5 drew with R. Aparna 3; Dhyani Dave 3 bt Ashvithi Wallawita (Sri) 1.5; K.S. Ratnamanikyam 2.5 bt Indrani 1.

Under-10: Kiruba H. Arasu 3 lost to P. Lakshmi Sahithi 6; Rucha Pujari 4.5 drew with V. Chaitanya 4; J. Mohana Priya 3.5 drew with V. Bhavana 3.5; Nguyen Ngoc Phuong Khanh (Vie) 4 bt Teenu Thomas Thaliyath 2.5; Pranali Patil 3.5 bt U.G.S.S.S. Udupitiya (Sri) 2; Sai Nirupama Kotepally 3 bt G. Sirisha 2; Adeline Gan Li Ling (Mal) 1 lost to C.H. Savetha 2.

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