World Juniors Rd.06: Alinasab leads, Iran-Israel pairing creates chaos

by Sagar Shah - 20/10/2019

Going into the rest day we are now past the half way mark at the World Junior Championships 2019. In the open section we have two leader - Evgeny Shtembuliak of Ukraine and Aram Hakobyan of Armenia. They are on 5.0/6 and are followed by a pack of seven players on 4.5/6. In the girls section we have Mobina Alinasab who has taken the sole lead with 5.5/6 beating Altantuya on top board. Polina Shuvalova is in the sole second spot with 5.0/6. As many as ten girls are on 4.5/6. In this report we bring you the most interesting games of round six and interviews. We also tell you about the Iran-Israel controversy which has been going on at the event. A powerpacked report from New Delhi.

The Iran-Israel Controversy continues

Two Iran players who were paired against Israeli opponents in the tournament were Amin Tabatabaei and Aryan Gholami | Photo: Amruta Mokal

In round four Aryan Gholami was paired against Alexander Zlatin. Due to medical reasons Aryan didn't turn up for the game and later that day he withdrew from the event and left back for Iran. His score was 1.5/4. A couple of rounds later in the sixth round it was Amin Tabatabaei who was paired against Or Bronstein. Amin didn't turn up for the game and when the arbiters asked for the reason, a medical certificate was provided. When the seventh round pairings came out, Tabatabaei's name was taken out from the pairing. Iran's head of delegation appealed this decision of the chief arbiter. The appeal's committee was assembled at night and in a long meeting that lasted over couple of hours, Amin's name was put back in the tournament with a fresh pairing list created. But this was done only under the condition that the next time Amin has a medical issue, he will be checked by the doctor provided by the organizers and more importantly, if he is paired against Israeli opponent or a player from any country, he will ensure that he plays the round. Only after these conditions were met, was his name put back into the pairing. The chief arbiter is Hamid Majid, the head of delegation for Iran is Shadi Paridar and the chairman of appeals committee is Tania Sachdev. We will be trying to get the official quotes from these important personalities for our next report on this incident. For now, the pairing in the open section was changed well past midnight, around 00.40 hours, so the players who are fighting it out below board no.20 should check it out again.

Shadi Paridar submitting a written appeal after Amin's name was removed from the pairing list | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The team of arbiters in action after the appeal was submitted | Photo: Amruta Mokal

As you can see from the time on the clock, things went well past midnight! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Interview with Israeli player Or Bronstein after he won the game via walkover against Amin Tabatabaei

Back to chess!

After defeating one Indian talent in round five (Praggnanandhaa), Evengy Shtembuliak was up against another - Karthikeyan Murali on the top board. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

After just 12 moves we reached the following interesting position:

Karthikeyan vs Shtembuliak

Have you ever got this "Block" pawn structure in your games?

Shtembuliak explained after the game, "Sometimes I can just start pushing my pawns down the board with ...f5 and ...g5 and my king would still be safe!" Black had a comfortable position and Karthikeyan was under grave time pressure. But he found some very interesting moves to hold on. Shtembuliak was especially impressed with the idea where White placed his pawns on h4, g3 and then exchanged his bishop with Bf4.

White had little time on the clock and Black is threatening to gain space with g5. Hence White put his pawn on h4 and then after g3, he tried to exchange the bishops with Bf4. It perhaps wasn't objectively great but during the game it looked quite a good idea with White have very little time on the clock.

To take on d7 or not? White to play.

Here is where Karthikeyan's calculating abilities combined with his knack for solving studies came into good use. He confidently took the knight on d7. He had seen that the pawn ending is drawn and that he can always meet ...g5 with h5 and Black cannot make progress. If Black after g5 and h5 goes to Kf7 and tries for g6 then White takes and get his king to the e6 square. All of this has been explained in the notes below.

On board two Aram Hakobyan played some inspired chess to beat Indian GM P. Iniyan | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Aram Hakobyan is in excellent form at the World Juniors 2019. In round five he beat the strong Spanish GM Miguel Ruiz and now against Iniyan with the black pieces, he played some flawless chess to move into the joint lead with 5.0/6 along with Shtembuliak.

Iniyan vs Hakobyan

White has broken in the center with the move e4. How should Black respond?

In this position Black went for the move ...c5! It was an excellent decision by Aram as this opens up the position for his bishops and also the white king on c1 starts to feel the heat.

White's Be4 finished off the game quickly after ...dxc3 Bxb7 cxb2+ Kb1 Qe7! The pawn on a3 is hanging now.

Time for the final blow. Black to play and win.

You can win this position only if you spot the move ...Qa2! Now the threat is b1=Q and after Rb1, Black went Nc5 and the white king was mated in the next couple of moves!

After his first loss in many games in round five, Pragg was back on track with a nice win over IM Zhanados Agmanov | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Volodar Murzin played the endgame like a champion to beat Harsha Bharathakoti | Photo: Niklesh Jain

In our last report we had already mentioned about the phenomenal endgame acumen of 13-year-old Volodar Murzin. Well, he went one step ahead in the sixth round where he showed all the skills of a good endgame player. We are going to change our format for this one and first give you the entire game to look at. After that we will explain to you the techniques used by the Russian IM to win his game.

So how did Murzin win his game?

1. Creating a weakness

2. Maximize the position

3. Patience

4. Staying tactically aware

5. Calculating the final phase accurately

Murzin vs Bharathakoti

First step was to create a weakness in the position

Maximizing the position with each piece standing on an ideal square

Patience! Here Murzin could have gone g5 directly like he did on move 57. However, he did not do it immediately. Why to end the misery for the opponent when he cannot do anything. From move 47 to 57 Volodar just moved his pieces from one square to another doing absolutely nothing. Defence is always tiring.

The breakthrough! Often when you are playing slowly, it is possible to just forget about calculating lines. But good players are always on the watch out for tactical opportunities. Here the move g5! is pretty strong.

Once the rook breaks in, the knight and rook combo will create havoc on the board! It was necessary to calculate lines here and Murzin did so without too much of difficulty.

After watching this performance, one can easily see the talent in this youngster and predict that he will be a great player in the years to come! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Miguel Ruiz played a fine game from the white side of the Najdorf to beat Leon Mendonca | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Aravindh Chithambaram was not showing his best form at the event until now. But his game against Artur Davtyan shows what the boy is capable of | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Davtyan vs Aravindh

It looks like a such a simple position. But that's the thing about magicians! They can create something out of nothing! Look how Aravindh makes some magical moves to beat his strong opponent.

Ameya Audi vs Ravi Haria

Black to play and win

Results in open section after round 6:

Standings in open section after round 6:

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Bdld	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	7	GM	Shtembuliak Evgeny	UKR	2577		5,0	0,0	20,5	23,0
2	9	GM	Hakobyan Aram	ARM	2561		5,0	0,0	20,0	23,0
3	8	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2567		4,5	0,0	20,0	22,5
4	10	GM	Santos Ruiz Miguel	ESP	2560		4,5	0,0	19,5	22,5
5	2	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	IND	2617		4,5	0,0	18,5	20,5
	26	IM	Haria Ravi	ENG	2463		4,5	0,0	18,5	20,5
7	17	IM	Khanin Semen	RUS	2507		4,5	0,0	18,0	20,5
8	25	IM	Costachi Mihnea	ROU	2463		4,5	0,0	18,0	20,0
9	32	FM	Murzin Volodar	RUS	2433		4,5	0,0	17,5	19,0
10	6	GM	Sargsyan Shant	ARM	2580		4,0	0,0	20,0	23,5
11	4	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	GER	2587		4,0	0,0	18,0	20,5
12	3	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2609		4,0	0,0	17,5	19,5
	16	GM	Iniyan P	IND	2509		4,0	0,0	17,5	19,5
14	22	IM	Drygalov Sergey	RUS	2470		4,0	0,0	17,0	19,0
15	51	IM	Raja Rithvik R	IND	2369		4,0	0,0	17,0	18,0
16	14	GM	Visakh N R	IND	2529		4,0	0,0	16,5	19,0
17	30	IM	Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari	IND	2449		4,0	0,0	16,5	18,0
18	12	IM	Gazik Viktor	SVK	2546		4,0	0,0	16,0	18,5
19	44	FM	Anuj Shrivatri	IND	2390		4,0	0,0	16,0	17,5
20	37	IM	Bronstein Or	ISR	2413		4,0	0,0	15,0	17,0

Mobina Alinasab leads in the girls section

Mobina Alinasab is the sole leader in the girls section with 5.5/6 | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Mobina beat Boldbataar Altantuya in round six of the World Juniors 2019 to take sole lead with 5.5/6. She has a half point lead over Shuvalova and a full point lead over rest of the field. While Iran is struggling in the open section with bad results as well as the pairings related issues, Mobina's performance gives the Iranian fans something to cheer about. Although Mobina's rating is just 2239 and she is still a WIM, you can expect a lot from her at this event. At the Women's World Championships 2018 she went to round three knocking out strong players like Elizabeth Paehtz and Monika Socko. She has also finished her schooling and has taken a year of break from studying so that she can focus on her chess! She is trained by GM Oleg Korneev.

Polina Shuvalova, the under-18 girls World Champion is making a strong claim to fight for the world title in under-20 as well when she beat Solozhenkina in round six | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Annotations by WIM Angela Frank Jain:

Divya Deshmukh managed to hold the more experienced Stavroula Tsolakidou to a draw | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Mariia Berdnyk beat the giant killer Toshali V | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The Indian match up between Rakshitta Ravi and R. Vaishali ended in a draw | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Arpita Mukherjee managed to hold Bibisara Assaubayeva to a draw | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Pairings in girls section after round 6

Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
1	20	WFM	Altantuya Boldbaatar	MGL	2277	4½	0 - 1	4½	WIM	Alinasab Mobina	IRI	2239	25
2	2	IM	Tsolakidou Stavroula	GRE	2431	4	½ - ½	4	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	IND	2358	9
3	4	WIM	Shuvalova Polina	RUS	2412	4	1 - 0	4	WIM	Solozhenkina Elizaveta	RUS	2283	17
4	14	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	IND	2310	4	½ - ½	4	WGM	Vaishali R	IND	2385	5
5	21	WIM	Arpita Mukherjee	IND	2271	4	½ - ½	4	WGM	Assaubayeva Bibisara	KAZ	2381	6
6	10		Berdnyk Mariia	UKR	2349	3½	1 - 0	3½		Toshali V	IND	1868	73
7	36	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	IND	2175	3½	½ - ½	3½	WIM	Dordzhieva Dinara	RUS	2335	11
8	24	WIM	Priyanka Nutakki	IND	2248	3½	0 - 1	3½	FM	Antova Gabriela	BUL	2318	13
9	43	WFM	Afraoui Anaelle	FRA	2106	3½	1 - 0	3½	WFM	Protopopova Anastasiya	RUS	2263	23
10	12	WIM	Munkhzul Turmunkh	MGL	2332	3	½ - ½	3½	WFM	Olde Margareth	EST	2205	31

Standings in girls section after round 6

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	25	WIM	Alinasab Mobina	IRI	2239	5,5	0,0	20,0	22,5
2	4	WIM	Shuvalova Polina	RUS	2412	5,0	0,0	20,5	22,5
3	14	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	IND	2310	4,5	0,0	21,0	24,0
4	5	WGM	Vaishali R	IND	2385	4,5	0,0	20,5	23,0
5	6	WGM	Assaubayeva Bibisara	KAZ	2381	4,5	0,0	19,5	22,5
6	21	WIM	Arpita Mukherjee	IND	2271	4,5	0,0	19,5	22,5
7	20	WFM	Altantuya Boldbaatar	MGL	2277	4,5	0,0	19,5	21,5
8	9	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	IND	2358	4,5	0,0	19,0	21,5
9	10		Berdnyk Mariia	UKR	2349	4,5	0,0	19,0	21,0
10	13	FM	Antova Gabriela	BUL	2318	4,5	0,0	19,0	21,0
11	2	IM	Tsolakidou Stavroula	GRE	2431	4,5	0,0	18,0	20,5
12	43	WFM	Afraoui Anaelle	FRA	2106	4,5	0,0	17,5	19,0
13	29	WIM	Mrudul Dehankar	IND	2227	4,0	0,0	21,0	21,5
14	17	WIM	Solozhenkina Elizaveta	RUS	2283	4,0	0,0	19,0	21,5
	27		Diakonova Ekaterina	RUS	2231	4,0	0,0	19,0	21,5
16	18	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	IND	2283	4,0	0,0	18,0	20,0
17	31	WFM	Olde Margareth	EST	2205	4,0	0,0	17,5	20,0
18	11	WIM	Dordzhieva Dinara	RUS	2335	4,0	0,0	17,5	19,5
19	38	WIM	Sapale Saloni	IND	2142	4,0	0,0	17,5	19,0
20	36	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	IND	2175	4,0	0,0	17,0	19,5

Related news:

	Who is Evgeny Shtembuliak? @ 05/11/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	एवेगेनी और शुवालोवा बने विश्व जूनियर शतरंज चैम्पियन @ 29/10/2019 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	Evgeny Shtembuliak and Polina Shuvalova are World Junior Champions 2019 @ 26/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	World Juniors Rd.10: Who will win the World Juniors 2019? @ 25/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	विश्व जूनियर -अब प्रियांका -अरविंद से आखिरी उम्मीद @ 25/10/2019 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	World Juniors Rd.09: Can anyone stop Shtembuliak and Shuvalova? @ 24/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	World Juniors Rd.08: YASQS - Yet Another Shuvalova Queen Sacrifice! @ 23/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	विश्व जूनियर में अब कार्तिक -दिव्या से बड़ी उम्मीद @ 23/10/2019 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	World Juniors Rd.07: Unstoppable Shtembuliak @ 22/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	Live Games from World Juniors 2019 @ 21/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	विश्व जूनियर पर पड़ी ईरान और इज़राइल विवाद की छाया @ 20/10/2019 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	विश्व जूनियर - जीत के साथ प्रग्गानंधा सयुंक्त बढ़त पर @ 18/10/2019 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	World Juniors Rd.03+04: Petrosian would have been proud @ 18/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	World Juniors 2019 Rd.02: The optimism of the young! @ 17/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	विश्व जूनियर R2- प्रग्गानंधा की दूसरी जीत ,मृदुल का उलटफेर @ 16/10/2019 by Niklesh Jain (hi)
	World Juniors Rd.01: Dvorkovich visit and a tough start for the top seeds @ 16/10/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)
	रोमांच के साथ विश्व जूनियर चैंपियनशिप का आगाज @ 16/10/2019 by Niklesh Jain (hi)