World Junior 2022 R1: Ishvi Aggarwal gives a massive scare to World U18 champion Mariam Mkrtchyan

by Shahid Ahmed - 13/10/2022

16-year-old Ishvi Aggarwal is the reigning National Amateur U-2300 Women's champion. She was paired against the newly crowned World Under-18 Girls champion, WIM Mariam Mkrtchyan (ARM). Mariam won the Gold last month with an astonishing 11/11 score. Getting a completely winning position against her was certainly not an easy task. Ishvi managed to do that, yet she was unable to make the most out of her opportunity, allowing her opponent to escape with a draw by perpetual check in the end. The highest rated Indian in the field, GM Leon Luke Mendonca also had a shaky start. He somehow wiggled out of trouble and won his first round game. Today is the sole double round of the tournament. Round 2 starts today at 9:30 a.m. local time, 1 p.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

First round jitters

Generally, in the first round of almost any tournament, the higher rated/seeded players are more vulnerable than others. Why? It is not because they take longer to adjust to the new atmosphere or time zone, the primary reason is, the lower rated players are virtually unknown to them. Sometimes their playing style and strength information are not available or outdated. Thus, it becomes difficult to gauge their present playing strength. Ishvi Aggarwal was clearly on the verge of a massive upset, a draw is still a big upset nevertheless.

Ishvi Aggarwal has made a fantastic start at World Junior Girls 2022 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Girls: Ishvi - Mariam: 0.5-0.5

Ishvi Aggarwal (1964) got a pleasant position out of the opening against WIM Mariam Mkrtchyan (ARM, 2374). She opted for the fianchetto variation against the King's Indian Defence. When an opportunity arose in the middlegame to shift things towards her, Ishvi took it.

Position after 18.e5

Black's most advanced piece in the above position is the knight at h5. White was ready for various choices, yet she chose the optimum one 18.e5! Does White gain anything immediate out of it? The answer is no. However, it is certainly the first step in getting a long-term advantage. 18...dxe5 19.Nxc6 Qe6 20.cxb5 e4 21.Qe2 Bxc6 22.bxc6 Qxc6 23.Rec1 Qb7 24.Rc4 f5 25.Rbc1 White has certainly gained a substantial advantage.

Position after 27...f4

White played 28.Qc2 however, 28.Qg4 would have been a better choice as now Bc4 can no longer be blocked by Re6. 28...Kh8 would be met by 29.Rxe5 Rxe5 30.Bd4. White did get to play Rxe5 in a slightly different position and got herself a decisive advantage too.

Position after 31...e3

32.fxe3 was played here which is also good enough. Although White could have finished things here immediately with 32.Qc6, a deadly fork forcing the exchange of queens, resulting in a win for White.

Position after 37...Qxg3

White's final opportunity was in the above position. 38.Qxe8 allowed Black to escape with a draw by perpetual check Qh3+ 39.Kg1 Qg3+ 40.Kh1 Qh3+. Can you find out what White should have done instead to score the full point?

Open: Utsab - Svane: 0-1

One of the latest IMs of India, Utsab Chatterjee (2345) had an extremely complex queen vs rook and double bishop endgame against GM Frederik Svane (GER, 2566).

Position after 39...Rb3

It is undoubtedly very difficult for White to save the endgame. Both g3 and h3 are going to fall in the next two moves inevitably. There is no way for White to save the game. So White just needed to get the king out of the corner 40.Kg1/2 Rxg3+ 41.Kf2 Rxh3 42.Qd4 Rh2+ 43.Kf1 and White is out of danger. Instead, 40.Qd4 finished things in a hurry after Rxg3 41.Kh1 Rg5 42.a5 Bd5+ and it's over.

Leon - Joushaede: 1-0

GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2558) had a shaky start against FM Joushuaede Cappelletto (ITA, 2337).

Position after 43.R4c2

43.R4c2 is an unforced error. White did not need to retreat his rook or overprotect his knight. 43.Ne4 would have been fine for White. Anyway, Black seized his opportunity momentarily 43...Bxd4 44.Nc4 and now he blundered Bc5 44.Bd6! blockade Bxb4 45.Qxb4 and Black resigned.

Inaugural first moves are being made | Photo: UniChess

The tournament hall at Cala Gonone town in Sardinia, Italy | Photo: UniChess

Replay Round 1 Live Commentary by GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko and WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili | Video: FIDE

Replay Round 1 Open games

Replay Round 1 Girls games

Round 1 results - Open and Girls

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
1	3	63		Utsab Chatterjee	IND	2345	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Svane Frederik	GER	2566	3
1	4	4	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	IND	2558	0	1 - 0	0	FM	Cappelletto Joshuaede	ITA	2337	64
1	5	65	IM	Raahul V S	IND	2333	0	0 - 1	0	IM	Murzin Volodar	FID	2557	5
1	6	6	GM	Ivic Velimir	SRB	2553	0	1 - 0	0	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	IND	2332	66
1	8	8	GM	Iniyan P	IND	2541	0	1 - 0	0	FM	Carlo Emanuele	ITA	2306	68
1	27	87	CM	Tan Jun Ying	MAS	2189	0	½ - ½	0	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	IND	2451	27
1	30	30	IM	Neelash Saha	IND	2446	0	1 - 0	0		Hercegovac Neven	ITA	2175	90
1	36	36	IM	Harshavardhan G B	IND	2433	0	1 - 0	0		Gagic Milan A	SRB	2125	96
1	38	38	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	IND	2430	0	1 - 0	0		Gov Guy	ISR	2121	98
1	56	56	FM	Rohith Krishna S	IND	2370	0	1 - 0	0		Vivoli Alessandro	SMR	1555	116
1	3	36		Ishvi Aggarwal	IND	1964	0	½ - ½	0	WIM	Mkrtchyan Mariam	ARM	2374	3
1	7	40		Dejanovic Tereza	CRO	1943	0	0 - 1	0	WGM	Priyanka Nutakki	IND	2326	7
1	25	58		Femil Chelladurai	IND	1562	0	0 - 1	0	FM	Jarocka Liwia	POL	2089	25

Details: Open and Girls

Round 2 pairings - Open and Girls

Rd.	Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
2	1	1	GM	Esipenko Andrey	FID	2668	1		1	IM	Harshavardhan G B	IND	2433	36
2	2	3	GM	Svane Frederik	GER	2566	1		1	IM	Moksh Amit Doshi	IND	2430	38
2	3	35	FM	Ghimpu Samuel-Timotei	ROU	2434	1		1	GM	Mendonca Leon Luke	IND	2558	4
2	6	41	FM	Sokolovsky Yahli	ISR	2416	1		1	GM	Iniyan P	IND	2541	8
2	19	25	IM	Nogerbek Kazybek	KAZ	2467	1		1	FM	Rohith Krishna S	IND	2370	56
2	23	57	IM	Vestby-Ellingsen Mads	NOR	2365	1		1	IM	Neelash Saha	IND	2446	30
2	32	27	IM	Prraneeth Vuppala	IND	2451	½		½	CM	Avila Rodriguez Joshua Ad	MEX	2225	83
2	37	98		Gov Guy	ISR	2121	0		0		Utsab Chatterjee	IND	2345	63
2	39	100		Tripodi Enzo	ITA	2113	0		0	IM	Raahul V S	IND	2333	65
2	40	66	IM	Manish Anto Cristiano F	IND	2332	0		0	CM	Carroll Peter	IRL	2115	99
2	6	7	WGM	Priyanka Nutakki	IND	2326	1		1	WFM	Aydin Gulenay	TUR	2109	24
2	18	47		Malikova Marjona	UZB	1830	½		½		Ishvi Aggarwal	IND	1964	36
2	23	37		Bucur Denisa-Andreea	ROU	1946	0		0		Femil Chelladurai	IND	1562	58

Details: Open and Girls

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations

Related news:

	World Junior 2022 R5: Leon Luke Mendonca and Prraneeth Vuppala reduce the gap @ 16/10/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	World Junior 2022 R4: Manish beats Luka @ 15/10/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	World Junior 2022 R2-3: Priyanka Nutakki makes a good start @ 14/10/2022 by Shahid Ahmed (en)