WJCC 13: Fate can be funny, but at the same time, brutal

WJCC 13: Fate can be funny, but at the same time, brutal

The Tale of two Dinaras:

Dinara Saduakassova was visibly nervous as she walked around the second board, eagerly awaiting for a decision. After losing the lead at the beginning of the tournament, she had been playing steadily to regain the top spot before the final round, just in time.

And in the final round, after a well-executed endgame, she found herself just one body check away from becoming the World Junior Champion.

Easy, right? Except that Saduakassova completely forgot about the possibility with 56. Kg6! Instead, she blundered with 56. Kg7 and settled for a draw, only to realise to her horror what she had just done.

Fate can be funny, and at the same time, brutal. Saduakassova had only drawn, to reach 9.5/13. WIM Dinara Dordzhieva, if she won, would tie with Saduakassova, but be the winner on the tiebreak. To make matters worse, Dordzhieva, who was playing on board two with the black pieces, was already a pawn up.

The girls' section turned out to be interesting right until the end as the top two boards were locked in fierce battles. Towards the end of day's play, it was clear that nerves were playing a huge role in deciding the winner.

Kazakh WGM Dinara Saduakassova was convinced that her game could end in nothing more but a draw, but it turned out that she had a winning position towards the very end after a mistake by her opponent Uurtsaikh Uuriintuya of Mongolia.

Things could have got messy had Dordzhieva won, as she may have ended up winning the tournament due to her better tiebreak.

There is only one move that wins in the above position. Dordzhieva, who was black, failed to find it, and instead played 55...b4 56. Qh5+ Kg8 57. Qd5+, which is only equal, because the b4 pawn falls.

Did you see all the variations?

Parnali held the Russian, thus allowing Dinara Saduakassova to become the World Junior Champion in the girls' section with 9.5/13. She also ended up benefitting another Indian...

She won when it mattered most, and that too with the black pieces, against WGM Nataliya Buksa of Ukraine. She scored 9.0/13, and thanks to Parnali's draw with Dordzhieva, won the silver on the tiebreak.

WIM Dinara Dordzhieva, who was held to a draw, was third and won the bronze medal with 9.0/13.

Final Standings:

Complete Standings

It was interesting to see how both sides played against each other's weaknesses, but white turned out to be clearly ahead.

Polish IM Nasuta Grzegorz, who had had a fine run throughout the tournament, ended up losing to Kerala's GM S.L. Narayanan.

Thus, Narayanan sneaked up to the third spot to take the bronze medal with 9.0/13.

In the final round, he was pitted against Iran No. 1 Parham Maghsoodloo (2576) who, as has been his trademark in this tournament, played some out of the book stuff. He quickly built a commanding position with a huge advantage for white.

And then, he went wrong. Losing in a terrible manner.

Final Standings

Complete Standings

The World Junior Chess Championship 2016 is being widely billed as one of the most hospitable events in the Indian chess calendar this year. Odisha chess is surely setting up an example in holding quality tournaments for the benefit of the players. Top-notch organisation coupled with excellent playing conditions and star hotel accommodations for all the participants has made this tournament a darling among the chess players, with many slowly becoming patrons of tournaments held in this state.

A sport like chess needs a visionary to head it at the helm. Moreover, the role played by such leaders is of chief importance because it determines the success or failure of any organisation.

In this light, it becomes imperative to inquire the reason behind this development. It turns out that among the many people who make such success possible, one of the primary reasons is the Vice President of the All Odisha Chess Association – Mr. Ranjan Mohanty. Mr Mohanty is also a FIDE rated player and Income-Tax Officer. Besides his services for the Odisha association, Mr Mohanty is also the secretary of the Cuttack District Chess Association. He has also published articles on chess related topics in various magazines.

His leadership experience is making sure that there is a regular turnover of quality chess tournaments in the state of Odisha.

As you can see in the standings given above, the answer turned out to be the world's youngest international master Praggnanandhaa R. Almost all the players (135), and even some arbiters, participated in the contest.

Six players got the answer correct, and the winner was determined by a lucky draw -- Dimitrios Papakonstantinou of Greece, who won a bundle of ChessBase 13, Komodo 10, Opening Encyclopaedia 2016 and Mega Database 2016! The remaining five players took home a consolation prize of a 3-month subscription to the ChessBase account.

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