World Junior R08+09: Chinese and Russians top

Rounds eight and nine: Chinese and Russians at the top

By Sagar Shah

After nine rounds of World Junior Championships 2014, two powerhouses of world chess are in the forefront. In the Open section the two Chinese GMs Wei Yi (2641) and Lu Shanglei (2533) met each other in the ninth round and drew their game to remain in the lead with 7.0/9. They were joined by a Russian who is the top seed in the event: Vladimir Fedoseev (2661). In the Girls section it was last year's winner and the top seed of the event, the Russian Aleksandra Goryachkina (2430), who is in the sole lead with 7.5/9.

The two Chinese players Wei Yi and Lu Shanglei kick off the ninth round on the top board

The battle between Wei Yi and Lu Shanglei lived up to its expectation. The Chinese players went for full-blooded fight, and Lu Shanglei, who had the black pieces, was able to get the advantage. He played excellently, and just when things seemed to be looking bleak for Wei Yi, Black made a mistake which gave him a chance to fight back. Wei Yi played accurately and managed to hold a draw. A very interesting fight.

The pictures say it all: they came as friends, fought like mortal enemies and went back
as friends. Vladimir Fedoseev vs Karen Grigoryan (1-0)

That moment when S.L. Narayanan made an important norm. He drew his ninth round game
with Vidit Gujrathi and, with a performance of 2608, he made his maiden GM norm.

The 16-year-old Narayanan is not a very expressive boy. The smile in the above picture definitely shows that he is happy with his performance. With 6.0/9 and four more rounds to go, he can make this tournament even more memorable by aiming for one of the medals.

IM Diptayan Ghosh (2508) needed a win against GM Cori Jorge (2612) to make his second GM norm. He was on his back foot for the entire game, defended resourcefully and was able to liquidate into a pawn down rook endgame that was completely drawn. For nearly 20 moves the players kept pottering around, giving checks. But then came the unbelievable moment! On 72nd move Jorge blundered! This gave Diptayan the chance to simply make a queen and register a win! But it was not to be. Out of inertia, Diptayan chose the safest way to draw the game and missed his chance. The young lad from Kolkata must be heartbroken, but he has another shot at the norm in the 10th round if he manages to beat Kamil Dragun (2546) with the white pieces.

Thinking a little bit deeply about the above blunder by both the sides, it seems to me that the players have started to run out of steam. Don't believe me?

A sleepy Lu Shanglei on the top board! And he is not the only one in the playing hall....

As the round number increases, so do the number of yawns we are seeing!

As a final proof of how the players are blundering, have a look at the game given below.

Though it was a lucky break for Paulo Bersamina (above) of Philippines, his attitude of playing on in the theoretically drawn position for nearly 35 moves must be commended! He also achieved an IM norm for this effort.

Irakli Beradze (2318) from Georgia had to win in the ninth round to make
his IM norm, and he did it in style by beating IM Toms Kantans (2485)

IM Bai Jinshi (2406) has played splendidly in this tournament –
with 6.5/9 and a performance of 2624 has achieved his GM-norm

IM Aravindh Chithambaram (2485) continues to impress
everyone with his unconventional play and is now on 6.5/9

Aleksandra Goryachkina scored three wins on a trot and in now
the sole leader in the Girls section with 7.5/9

The tenth round will witness a key battle in the girls section as Goryachkina will take on Sarasadat Khademalsharieh who is on 7.0/9. Sarasadat is the only player who can stop Goryachkina now, as she is the only one on seven points. If Goryachkina manages to win this key encounter, her path to the gold should be relatively easy.

Sarasadat Khademalsharieh has a huge responsibility on her shoulders!

When so many young players play in the tournament, there is bound to be some nice style statements.

P.V. Nandhidhaa (2174) made her third WIM norm and also
gained 62 Elo points. That means now she will soon be a WIM.

Pratyusha Bodda (2078) also made her WIM norm

Anna Iwanow (2279) carries with her a nice bag which shows ...

... an intersting way to manage your life.

WFM Rucha Pujari (2113) in a chessboard top

IM Idani Pouya (2517) Ray-Bans during the game

A chess champion in the making! Sandeep Gohad, who is the webmaster of the World
Junior website, watches his two-year-old son Yash take his first steps in the game

The men who are responsible for the live transmission of the games: IA N.K. Nandakumar,
IA V. Vijayaraghavan, IA Ganesh Babu and FA V.L. Anandh Babu

Continuing my task of finding inspiring stories at the World Junior, I present to you Claudia Munoz. She is from USA and is rated 1906. Her score is 3.5/9. After winning the United States girls Junior Championship she qualified for the World Junior. But then she faced a huge problem. She didn't have the finances to travel to Pune. Find out, how she managed to solve this problem in the video below.

Video reports of rounds eight and nine by Vijay Kumar

All pictures by Amruta Mokal

Results and standings

Before we could publish this report the tenth round of the World Junior Championship had been completed. In the following we bring you the results of the top pairings and the tournament standings after ten rounds. Our next report will come after round twelve.

Top results of Round ten

• Full results of all 70 round ten games are available here

• Standings of all 137 players after round ten

Top results after Round ten

• Results of all 39 round ten games

Top rankings after Round ten

• Standings of all 78 players after round ten

All the above pictures were taken by Amruta Mokal

Live video commentary on the official site by our reporters Sagar Shah and V. Saravanan

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN; Open + Girls (courtesy TWIC) The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.