Pictures from Paradise

by ChessBase
12/17/2002 – At the World Junior Championships, which are being currently held in the spectacularly beautiful Vainguinim Beach, Panaji, Goa (India) the boys cannot watch the games the girls play, and vice versa! The organisers, we are told, think it is too distracting, mainly because of the light clothing of the girls in the hot weather. You will find an illustrated report with some lovely location pictures by Vishal Sareen and Vijay Kumar here.

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Report after nine rounds

By John Henderson

The battle for the World Junior crown, taking place at the luxurious five-star Cidade de Goa in India, now more than ever looks to be heading for a nail-biting final few rounds, as the leading group in first place expands further to eight players.

As the top three boards opted for safety with draws, the main casualties of round nine turned out to be the Chinese, as both Bu Xiangzhi and Ni Hua suffered losses that more or less put paid to their chances of a that elusive, first title. Top seed Bu lost to India's latest GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, who now joins the leading pack, as does Poland's Radislav Wojtaszek after inflicting a second successive defeat on Ni Hua.

England's Luke McShane, looking to become the first British player to capture the title since Tony Miles in 1974, also stays among the leading group on 6.5/9. And, with just four rounds of play left in the prestigious junior title, McShane is joined in equal first with Levon Aronian of Armenia, Ferenc Berkes of Hungary, Radislav Wojtasjek of Poland, the Russian duo of Artyom Timofeev and Dimitry Jakovenko, and Indians Pedalya Harikrishna and Ganguly.

Round nine also proved to be a good one for Scotland's Graeme Kafka, as he beat India's Gurpreet Singh Maras for his first win of the tournament. He now moves up the table to 70th with 3.5/9.

The women's competition now also looks set for a dramatic final few rounds as defending champion GM Humpy Koneru of India closes to within half a point of leader Zhao Xue of China, who leads with 7.5/9.

Standings after ten rounds

 Boys
1
 Luke McShane
GM
 England
 7.5
2
 Aronian Levon
GM
 Armenia
 7.0
3
 Berkes Ferenc
GM
 Hungary
 7.0
4
 Harikrishna P
GM
 India
 7.0
5
 Poobesh Anand S.
 
 India
 7.0
6
 Surya Sekhar Ganguly
IM
 India
 7.0
7
 Timofeev Artyom
IM
 Russia
 7.0
8
 Wojtaszek Radoslaw
 
 Poland
 7.0
9
 David Craig Smerdon
IM
 Australia
 6.5
10
 Erenburg Sergey
IM
 Israel
 6.5
11
 Ghaem Maghami Ehsan
GM
 Iran
 6.5
12
 Miton Kamil
IM
 Poland
 6.5
13
 Neelotpal Das
IM
 India
 6.5
14
 Yakovenko Dmitri
GM
 Russia
 6.5

 Girls
1
 Zhao Xue
WGM
 China
 8.0
2
 Koneru Humpy
WGM
 India
 7.5
3
 Kosintseva Nadezhda
WGM
 Russia
 7.5
4
 Wang Yu
WGM
 China
 7.0
5
 Calotescu Ana-Cristina
 
 Romania
 6.5
6
 Eesha Karavade
 
 India
 6.5
7
 Kosintseva Tatiana
WGM
 Russia
 6.5
8
 Moser Eva
WGM
 Austria
 6.5
9
 Oubiennykh Ekaterina
WFM
 Russia
 6.5
10
 Tian Tian
WGM
 China
 6.5

Pictures from Paradise

An illustrated report by Vishal Sareen/Vijay Kumar

The World Juniors at Goa is a grand success on all counts. Picturesque locales. Good hospitality and nice playing environment.


St. Francis Xavier Church in Goa


The Mangesh Temple


The Mangesh Temple Tower


Lobby of the Cidade de Goa Hotel, venue of the championship

Barring of course the fact that the boys cannot watch the games of the girls and vice versa! The reason cited in one of the meetings was that it is a distraction, as because of the ‘hot’ weather here, the girls are finding the most suitable cloths.


Forbidden for the boys, who are not even allowed a peek: the girls tournament


Silje Bjerke of Norway

Portraits of the girls


P Priya India

Zhao Xue, China

Leonie Helm, Germany

Koneru Humpy, India*

Tatiana Kosintseva, Russia

Jana Jackova, Czech Republic

Tania Sachdeva, India*

Natalia Pogonina, Russia
* Koneru Humpy is the Reigning World Junior Champion, Tania Sachdeva the reigning Asian Junior Girls Champion.


Dronavalli Harika, 11, created an Asian record by becoming the youngest ever International Women Master after she defeated Tana Halusova of Czech republic in the 10th round.

So this time around the girls and boys have been separated despite playing in the same hall. No peeping! And yet when it did not stop it is said that the temperature in the tournament hall was decreased quite substantially to avoid tension! Only the boys are minding that!?

The competition however has been fierce. On-board and off-board. With some of the excellently fought games to some blooming romances. No one’s complaining here!

The pick of the boys’ tournament so far has been Levon Aronian who has played some of the best games here. It has been a five way lead at the top after the first eight games with Englishman Luke McShane, Russians Artyom Timofeev and Dimitry Jakovenko and Indian P Hari Krishna joining Aronian with 6 points each in their kitty.

McShane was the early leader here with some spectacular wins in the first few rounds but his loss against Aronian was costly. Timofeev has been steady while Jakovenko and Hari Krishna have been winning and drawing intermittently. The Championship is interestingly poised!

In the Girls’ championship Zhao Xue of China is looking strong with 7 points from the first 8 games. Defending champion and top seed Koneru Humpy is a full point behind the Chinese with 6 points in her bag and it appears that remaining round will see a race between these two to determine this years’ girls champion.


Participants enjoying a cruise ride on their free day

Everything is being done to perfection. On the rest day after the seventh round, the players were taken to sightseeing in the morning and to a Cruise in the evening. Some of them danced there too!

The venue is excellent with a beach attached to it and some of the finest locales in this formal Portugeese Colony. There is ear-soothing music almost everyday at the beach and a Casino that is visited by quite a few.

With five more rounds remaining the battle for the crowns and other fronts is only likely to heat up in the rounds to come!

Vishal Sareen/Vijay Kumar


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