Asian Junior 2022 R8: Harshavardhan on the verge of winning Gold

by Shahid Ahmed - 24/11/2022

IM Harshavardhan G B scored an emphatic victory over Eric Labog Jr. (PHI) in the penultimate round. He has increased his lead by a full point 6.5/8 in the Asian Junior Chess Championships 2022 Open. IM Neelash Saha and IM Utsab Chatterjee are among the pack of five players at 5.5/8 each. In the Girls section, both previous round leaders, WIM Rakshitta Ravi and WIM Ngoc Thuhy Duong (VIE) won their respective games to move to 6.5/8 each. Harshavardhan needs a draw in the final round to clinch the Gold, while Rakshitta must-win her last game and hope everything works out in her favor to clinch the Gold. Final Round 9 starts tomorrow at 9 a.m. local time, 11:30 a.m. IST. Photo: Asian Chess Federation

Rakshitta maintains her lead with Ngoc Thuy Duong

IM Harshavardhan G B is poised to become the Asian Junior 2022 Open champion | Photo: Asian Chess Federation

Eric - Harshavardhan

Position after 27.Bc3

Eric Labog Jr. (2138) made a series of positional mistakes, starting with 16.b4. 27.Bc3 proved to be a fatal one as after Ne5 there is no good reply for White. 28.Rxa2 bxa2 29.Qa1 Nxc4 30.Bxg7 Rb1! ensuring White's deadly g7-bishop is gone. 31.Qxa2 Rxf1+ 32.Bxf1 Kxg7 33.dxc4 Qxc4 Black's material advantage is enough to convert it into a full point. This win helped Harshavardhan to extend his lead by a full point.

Femil - Rakshitta

Position after 22.Qxd5

Femil Chelladurai (1657) was already in trouble against WIM Rakshitta Ravi (2219). 22.Qxd5 did not help White's case Qf5 23.e6 fxe6 24.Qxe6+ Kh8 25.Nf3 Qxe6 26.Bxe6 Nxf4 White might have managed to trade the queens but the intensity of attack did not get reduced. Black won the game in the next few moves with her sharp play.

WIM Rakshitta Ravi maintains her lead 6.5/9 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

A total of 32 players including 8 IMs in the Open and 20 players including 5 WIMs are taking part from Guam, Indonesia, India, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysis, Mongolia, Philippines and Vietnam. The tournament is organized by Asian Chess Federation. It is taking place at Knights Templar Hotel in Tagaytay, Philippines from 19th to 25th November 2022.

Replay Round 8 Open games

Replay Round 8 Girls games

Round 8 Open results

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Gr	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Gr	Rtg	No.
8	1	14		Labog Eric Jr.		2138	5	0 - 1	5½	IM	Harshavardhan G B		2426	2
8	3	1	IM	Neelash Saha		2436	4½	1 - 0	4½		Daluz Christian Mark		2010	15
8	5	6		Utsab Chatterjee		2349	4½	1 - 0	4		Dau Khuong Duy	U16	1993	17
8	7	11	IM	Raahul V S		2311	4	1 - 0	4		Dziththauly Ramadhan		2194	12
8	9	20		Santiaguel Jerico M.		1646	3½	0 - 1	3½	IM	Avinash Ramesh	U18	2338	8

Details

Round 9 pairings

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	Gr	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Gr	Rtg	No.
9	1	2	IM	Harshavardhan G B		2426	6½		5½	IM	Gan-Erdene Sugar		2419	4
9	2	7	IM	Concio Michael Jr.	U18	2343	5½		5½	IM	Neelash Saha		2436	1
9	3	5	FM	Hakemi Arman		2412	5½		5½		Utsab Chatterjee		2349	6
9	5	15		Daluz Christian Mark		2010	4½		5	IM	Raahul V S		2311	11
9	6	8	IM	Avinash Ramesh	U18	2338	4½		5		Bacojo Mark Jay	U16	1949	18

Details

Round 8 Girls results

8	1	15		Femil Chelladurai	U18	1657	5	0 - 1	5½	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	U18	2219	2
8	4	9	WFM	Bhagyashree Patil	U18	1921	4	0 - 1	4½	WIM	Kairbekova Amina	U16	2212	3
8	8	17		Susmita Bhowmick	U18	1331	2	0 - 1	3	WCM	Chua Jia-Tien		1858	10

Details

Round 9 pairings

9	1	2	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	U18	2219	6½	5½	WIM	Kairbekova Amina	U16	2212	3
9	3	15		Femil Chelladurai	U18	1657	5	6	WFM	Asgharzadeh Mitra		2001	8
9	6	10	WCM	Chua Jia-Tien		1858	4	4	WFM	Bhagyashree Patil	U18	1921	9
9	7	17		Susmita Bhowmick	U18	1331	2	4		Dhea Safitri		1787	13

Details

Links

Asian Chess Federation

Tournament Regulations

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