World Youth Rd 4: Srihari beats top seed Sreeshwan in under-14 open to claim sole lead

Anything can happen

The difference between a strong grandmaster and a strong International Master is not huge, but it does show at critical moments in the game. Take for example the interesting game between Praggnanandhaa and Petriashvili. Pragg is a strong GM now with an Elo of 2567, at just 14 years old, he is already quite experienced. Petriashvili, on the other hand, is rated 2441 and is a strong International Master from Georgia. They played each other in round four of the World Youth under-18 championships 2019 and after 15 moves the following position was reached:

Black has just played his bishop to d6. Pragg had an important decision to make. Should he play 16.♘c4 or 16.♗g3? The latter was safer, while the former meant that the h2 pawn is en prise. What would you choose?

Pragg's choice of 16.♘c4 was interesting, but ♗g3! was a simple and strong move that would have given White a clear edge. After 16.♘c4, Black took the pawn on h2, and after 17.♔h1 we reached the following position:

It was important here for Black to understand that White is threatening ♕c5 along with a clamp on the dark squares with ♘d6+. Hence, Black should have just castled. Yes, g3 is the main issue after that but when the a8-h1 diagonal is opened up, Black can look out for tactics beginning with ...d5! The position is still unclear, but objectively Black's chances are better. Petriashvili played 17...♝f4 in the above position and after 18.♕c5 White was back in the driver's seat. Pragg managed to win the game after that. As you can see, the window for grabbing the initiative/advantage is tiny and if you don't jump through at the right moment against strong GMs like Praggnanandhaa, you won't get a second chance.

Praggnanandhaa talks about his win over Petriashvili

Standings in under-18 open

Praggnanandhaa is leading the tournament along with five other players Aryan Gholami from Iran, Viachaslau Zarubitski from Belarus, Iniyan P. Aditya Mittal and Arjun Kalyan from India.

Aditya Mittal, just 13 years old, has been showing some very interesting endgame technique. In round four he managed to score a win from a position that looked completely equal. Check out this video and learn from the youngster. 

Chess Endgames 8 - Practical Rook Endgames

Rook endings are amongst the most frequently encountered endgames there are, and so your training effort will be quickly repaid in the form of half and full points. Knowing even a few rules of thumb and key methods makes life a great deal easier and provides a guiding light even in complex positions. This DVD focuses on the important themes which are to be found in common rook endings.

Aditya Mittal grinds down Rahul Srivatshav in an equal position

The top board game between Iniyan and Gholami ended in a draw | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Chess Endgames 9 - Rook and Minor Piece

Endings with rook and minor piece against rook and minor piece occur very frequently, even more often than rook endings, yet there's not much literature on them. This endgame DVD fills this gap. The four different material constellations rook and knight vs rook and knight, rooks and opposite coloured (and same coloured ) bishops and rook and bishop vs rook and knight are dealt with. In view of the different material constellations Karsten Mueller explains many guidelines like e.g. "With knights even a small initiative weighs heavily".

In the girls under-18 section we have Honorata Kucharska and Viktoria Radeva who are in the joint lead with 3½/4 each. Top seed and defending champion Polina Shuvalova is currently on 3.0/4. She had some excellent chances to beat her opponent Honorata Kucharska, when the latter took too many risks. But the game eventually ended in a draw. We speak to Shuvalova after her game and analyze this complex game with her.

Defending World Youth under-18 champion Polina Shuvalova analyzes her game

Under-18 Girls

In the under-16 open section Sankalp Gupta was playing on the top board against Rudik Makarian of Russia. The game was oscillating between equality and slight advantage for White. However, at some point the Indian IM went wrong and landed up losing a piece.

Sankalp Gupta tried too hard and ultimately conceded the full point | Photo: Amruta Mokal 

Power Play 8 - Knights and Bishops

When we are starting out in chess we are told that knights and bishops both have a value of three points, but it is quite clear that in some positions a bishop is clearly superior to a knight - and vice versa. After watching this 8th Power Play DVD you’ll have a better idea of how to play positions with knights and bishops – what to look for, what to avoid, and how to place your pawns.

Aronyak Ghosh showed the power of two bishops as he outplayed Lucas Tomiello | Photo: Rupali Mullick

Aronyak joins Rudik at the top with 4.0/4.

Under-16 open 

Leya Garifullina managed to outplay Lakshmi C with the black pieces | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Leya is one of the leaders in under-16 girls.

Nazerke Nurgali beat Saina Salonika and moved to 4.0/4  | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nurgali is the other leader in the under-16 girls section.

Divya Deshmukh was dubbed as the favourite to win the under-14 girls section. With 2358, she was a solid 50 points ahead of the second seed Rakshitta Ravi and a 200-point gap separated her and the third seed. But the game of chess is always unpredictable and this is what happened in the fourth round of the World Youth Chess Championships 2019. Divya lost her game to Bat-Erdene Mungunzul from Mongolia (1912).

Black's position is worse, but Divya moved her queen to d8 and simply gave up the a6 pawn. After that it was pretty easy for Mungunzul to score the full point.

Dhyana Patel and Eline Roebers drew their game on the top board to move to 3½/4 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

As many as seven girls are in the lead with 3½/4. This is one section where the fight for the title is going to be quite intense.

Under-14 girls

U14: Srihari LR of India is now the sole leader with 4.0/4

In the previous round Sreeshwan was lucky as he converted a completely minus position into a win. But this time he wasn't fortunate enough as Srihari played one powerful move after another to win the game

Navigating the Ruy Lopez Vol.1-3

The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.

Srihari analyzes his win over Sreeshwan Maralakshikari

It was a powerful game by Srihari and for this we award him with the best game of the day prize by ChessBase. He is awarded the vol.1 of Fabiano Caruana's Navigating the Ruy Lopez.

Under-14 open

Video and Photo Gallery

Grandmaster, trainer and commentator Dimitri Komarov speaks about how he tried to change the mindset of chess players in Sri Lanka, his current assignment with the UAE team and lastly about Nihal Sarin. Komarov is of the opinion that when it comes to positional play Nihal is stronger than Magnus Carlsen!

Dimitri Komarov

Elene Kostava is playing in the under-18 girls section. She is also a journalist by profession as she works in the Georgian Chess TV. We speak with Elene on different topics that includes chess in Georgia, her experience in India and her future plans!

Elene Kostava is a journalist for Georgian Chess TV

Organizers provided refreshments absolutely free of cost to not only the players, but also to the coaches, parents and accompanying persons! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Let's hope all that plastic is recycled!

When the players are not allowed to bring their own pens, you need to have a huge stock of pens! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

With over 450 youngsters taking part in six different categories, the arbiters have their hands full | Photo: Amruta Mokal

So many claims for threefold repetitions have to be carefully observed | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Tournament venue: Hotel Renaissance by the Marriott Group | Photo: Amruta Mokal

A room with a view: overlooking the Powai Lake | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Most of the international players have hardly gone outside the hotel. But within the premises they have enjoyed themselves! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Now this player has come well-prepared for a long game!  | Photo: Amruta Mokal

For the parents of the players fighting it out inside the playing hall, this proves to be a great bonding time! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

All games

U14 open

U14 girls

U16 open

U16 girls

U18 open

U18 girls

Links

• Official site
• Full results (Chess-Results)