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

• Report on the first seven rounds
• News
• The players
• Results
• Photos
• All games from rounds 1-7

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!