Asian Youth Championship 2016: rapid and blitz

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 11/04/2016

Approximately 470 young players have assembled at Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia for the Asian Youth Chess Championship 2016. After the fifth round, the Asian Youth Rapid and Blitz Championship 2016 was held on 10 April 2016. Check out how the Indian youngsters performed in this pictorial report.

Asian Youth Championship 2016: rapid and blitz

Approximately 470 young players have assembled at Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia for the Asian Youth Chess Championship 2016. The tournament began on 6th April 2016 and will be played over nine rounds in various categories.

Six rounds have come to close at the Asian Youth Championship 2016 with a bunch of Indians in the lead, followed by a handful still in the race. After the fifth round, the Asian Youth Rapid and Blitz Championship 2016 was held on 10 April 2016, with the Indians winning a bucketful of medals! Both the rapid and blitz tournaments were held over seven rounds.

Colourful children across the arena!

Only a select few games were broadcast live, but unfortunately, PGN isn't made available.

A giant chess set to play with at the entrance of the arena.

Bleed Blue!

WFM Divya Deshmukh (1894) is dominating the under-12 girls category. She won a silver in the rapid, a gold in the blitz, and is leading the standard play field with a perfect 6.0/6.

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.04.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Divya, Deshmukh"]
[Black "Jyothsna, L."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B18"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[SourceDate "2016.04.11"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nh3 Nf6 8. Nf4
Bh7 9. Bc4 Nbd7 10. O-O Nb6 11. Bb3 Nfd5 12. Qf3 Nxf4 13. Bxf4 e6 14. Rfe1 Nd5
15. Be5 b5 16. Qg4 f5 17. Qf3 Qd7 18. Nh5 O-O-O 19. a4 b4 20. Bc4 Kb7 21. Nf4
Re8 22. Bxd5 cxd5 23. c4 bxc3 24. bxc3 Rc8 25. Rab1+ Ka8 26. c4 Bg8 27. Qb3 a6
28. Ng6 Rh7 29. Nxf8 Rxf8 30. Qb6 g5 31. Qxa6+ Qa7 32. Qc6+ Rb7 33. a5 1-0

CM Nikhil Magizhnan was silver in open under-10 rapid.

WCM Sanskruti Wankhade won the silver medal in girls under-10 rapid.

WCM Mrudul Dehankar won a bronze medal in girls under-12.

FM Praggnanandhaa R. (2376) has moved to 5.0/6, at second place, in open under-12. Further, he won the gold convincingly in the corresponding blitz tournament.

WFM Vaishali R. (2345) won the gold medal in under-16 girls rapid and blitz and was also leading the standard play section until the fifth round with 4.5/5.

But in the sixth round, she lost to Harshita Guddanti (2024), who moved to 5.0/6 and second place, and also had won a silver medal in the under-16 girls rapid.

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.04.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Harshitha , Guddanti"]
[Black "Vaishali, R."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C77"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[SourceDate "2016.04.11"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. O-O Nf6 6. d3 g6 7. Re1 Bg7 8. c3
O-O 9. Nbd2 Bd7 10. Nf1 Nh5 11. h3 h6 12. Bb3 Re8 13. Ne3 Nf4 14. Nd5 g5 15.
Nxf4 gxf4 16. d4 Qe7 17. a4 Rad8 18. a5 Qf6 19. Qd2 Kh8 20. Kh1 Rg8 21. d5 Ne7
22. c4 Ng6 23. Qe2 Nh4 24. Bd1 Bf8 25. Nxh4 Qxh4 26. Ra3 Rg6 27. Rf1 Be7 28.
Qh5 Qf6 29. Rg1 Rdg8 30. b4 Rg5 31. Qf3 Qg7 32. Be2 h5 33. Re1 Qg6 34. Bf1 Bg4
35. Qc3 Be2 36. Bxf4 Rxg2 37. Bg3 Bxf1 38. Rxf1 Qxe4 39. Qf3 Qxc4 40. Qxh5+ Kg7
41. Kxg2 Kf8 42. Rf3 Qxd5 43. Rd1 Qa2 44. Rd2 Qc4 45. Rc2 Qd5 46. Rxc7 Qe6 47.
Qf5 e4 48. Rf4 Rxg3+ 49. fxg3 1-0

WFM Varshini V is not her usual self in standard play, but she won a gold in under-18 blitz and was bronze in the rapid.

IM Krishna Teja N (2233) is having a bumpy ride in the standard play under-18 section, but he won a bronze medal in rapid and silver in blitz.

Mitrabha Guha was silver in the open under-16 rapid.

Raghunandan Srihari (2260) played very well to defeat two of the higher seeds and sent us both the games, which you can replay below:

[Event "Asian Youth Chess Championship"]
[Site "Ulan Bator"]
[Date "2016.04.08"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Raghunandan, Kaumandur Srihari"]
[Black "Tahbaz, Arash"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2260"]
[BlackElo "2359"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2016.04.08"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "MGL"]
[SourceDate "2009.04.18"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bf4 O-O 6. Rc1 Nbd7 7. e3 c6 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. Bg3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 c5 11. Bd3 cxd4 12. cxd4 Bb4+ 13. Nd2 e5 14. O-O exd4
15. exd4 Nf6 16. Ne4 Nd5 17. Qh5 h6 18. Rb1 b6 19. Be5 Be7 20. Rb3 Be6 21. Bb1
Nf6 22. Nxf6+ Bxf6 23. Rg3 Kh8 24. d5 Bd7 25. Bf4 Qe7 26. d6 Qe6 27. Bxh6 g6
28. Bg7+ Kxg7 29. Rxg6+ fxg6 30. Qxg6+ 1-0

[Event "Asian Youth Chess Championship"]
[Site "Ulan Bator"]
[Date "2016.04.09"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Tran, Minh Thang"]
[Black "Raghunandan, Kaumandur Srihari"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D47"]
[WhiteElo "2332"]
[BlackElo "2260"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2016.04.09"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "MGL"]
[SourceDate "2009.04.18"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 e6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3
Bd6 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Ne4 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 Rc8 12. Bd2 f5 13. Bd3 O-O 14. b4 Qf6 15.
Rc1 Qg6 16. Kf1 e5 17. Nh4 Qf6 18. Nxf5 g6 19. Nh6+ Kg7 20. Ng4 Qh4 21. h3 h5
22. Bxg6 hxg4 23. Bf5 e4 24. Qxe4 Nf6 25. Qd3 c5 26. dxc5 Ne4 27. Qd4+ Kh6 28.
g3 Rxf5 29. gxh4 Rxf2+ 30. Ke1 Bg3 31. Kd1 Rxd2+ 32. Qxd2 Nxd2 33. Kxd2 Rd8+
34. Kc3 Be5+ 0-1

Anwesha Mishra (1839) is leading the field in under-14 girls with 5.5/6.

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.04.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bommini Mounika , Akshaya"]
[Black "Mishra, Anwesha"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C28"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[SourceDate "2016.04.11"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nc6 4. d3 Na5 5. Nf3 d6 6. Ng5 Nxc4 7. dxc4 Be7 8.
O-O h6 9. Nf3 Bg4 10. h3 Bh5 11. Qd3 Nd7 12. Ne2 Nc5 13. Qe3 Bg5 14. Nxg5 hxg5
15. f3 f6 16. Rd1 a5 17. b3 Ne6 18. Ba3 Qe7 19. c3 O-O 20. g4 Be8 21. Kf2 Kf7
22. Rh1 Rh8 23. Rad1 Bc6 24. b4 axb4 25. cxb4 b5 26. c5 dxc5 27. bxc5 Ra4 28.
Rb1 Rha8 29. Rb3 b4 30. Bxb4 Rxa2 31. Kg3 Nf4 32. Rh2 Bb5 33. Nc3 Rxh2 34. Kxh2
Bc4 35. Rb2 Rh8 36. Ba5 Rxh3+ 37. Kg1 Qd8 38. Rh2 Rxh2 39. Kxh2 Qh8+ 40. Kg1
Qh3 41. Qf2 Nd3 42. Qg2 Qh4 43. Qf1 Qg3+ 44. Qg2 Qe1+ 45. Kh2 Qa1 46. Bxc7 Qxc3
47. Bd6 Nf4 48. Qf2 Qd3 49. Kg3 Qf1 50. Qxf1 Bxf1 51. c6 Bb5 52. c7 Ba6 53. Kf2
Ke8 54. Ba3 Kd7 55. Bf8 Ne6 0-1

But in the sixth round, he lost to Iniyan P. (2315), who is at 5.0/6, second spot in open under-16.

The coaches of the Indian team found some time to visit places around Ulaanbaatar. IM Atanu Lahiri sent us some pictures from a village they visited, approximately 120 kilometers from the playing venue.

An evening at the frozen Tuul river

Atanu trying to handle a beastly eagle as WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy displays considerable amusement.

The barren and frozen landscape

A village adhering to shamanic traditions

A traditional Mongolian nomadic house

Inside: Mongolian tea followed by lunch at the traditional house.

With the business end of the tournament upon us, things can only become more interesting from here on. Stay tuned to ChessBase India for more. With the non-availability of games in PGN and even the photographs at the official website, we are very thankful to our friends at the tournament who have helped us bring you this report.

Links:

Official website

Pairings and performance of all Indian players