World Juniors 2018 Round 10: Can Abhimanyu win a medal?

by Sagar Shah - 15/09/2018

The World Junior Championship 2018 is poised excitingly for the silver and bronze medals in the open section and all the three medals in the women's section. The gold has already been decided in the open section with Parham Maghsoodloo scoring another fine win in the 10th round against Maxim Vavulin. For Indians our best hope is GM Abhimanyu Puranik who is currently in the fourth position and plays GM Aram Hakobyan with the black pieces in the final round. If Abhimanyu can win this game, he will be assured of the medal. The final round begins at 12.30 p.m. IST. We have embedded the live game player as well as the live commentary and an opening video in this article. Don't miss it.

Overview of Indian performances:

Currently two Indians have a chance for a medal - Abhimanyu Puranik has a realistic chance as he is in the joint second position with 7.5/10, while Varshini is in 8th position and is one point behind the leader. The difference between Abhimanyu and Varshini is that if Abhimanyu wins he is guaranteed of a medal, but even if Varshini wins, she has to have other results going her way in order to get a medal.

SNo		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pts.	Rk.	K	rtg+/-	Group
4	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2605	IND	1	1	½	½	½	1	½	½	0	1		6,5	18	10	-3,50	Open
10	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2578	IND	1	1	1	0	1	0	½	½	½	1		6,5	26	10	-2,20	Open
13	GM	Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan	2573	IND	1	½	1	0	1	1	0	1	½	1		7,0	11	10	1,80	Open
23	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2524	IND	1	½	1	1	0	1	½	1	1	½		7,5	4	10	17,20	Open
27	IM	Karthik Venkataraman	2519	IND	1	1	½	½	1	1	1	0	0	½		6,5	14	10	17,90	Open
40	IM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2474	IND	1	1	1	1	0	0	½	½	½	1		6,5	15	10	11,80	Open
50	IM	Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh	2443	IND	½	1	½	0	1	½	½	1	0	1		6,0	40	10	-0,30	Open
56	IM	Raja Harshit	2419	IND	1	0	½	1	1	0	0	1	½	1		6,0	39	10	0,00	Open
77	IM	Krishna Teja N	2356	IND	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	1	0		5,0	98	10	-10,00	Open
94	FM	Shailesh Dravid	2325	IND	0	1	1	0	½	0	1	½	1	½		5,5	71	20	7,00	Open
12	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2279	IND	1	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	0	1		6,5	15	40	-18,40	Girls
21	WIM	Mahalakshmi M	2213	IND	½	1	½	1	½	½	0	½	0	½		5,0	45	20	-19,60	Girls
32	WIM	Varshini V	2173	IND	1	0	1	½	0	1	1	1	1	½		7,0	8	20	26,60	Girls
36	WIM	Ivana Maria Furtado	2144	IND	1	½	1	0	½	½	0	0	1	½		5,0	43	20	-1,80	Girls
55	WCM	Isha Sharma	2012	IND	1	0	½	0	1	1	1	0	1	0		5,5	29	40	111,60	Girls
65		Meenal Gupta	1963	IND	½	0	1	1	½	1	0	1	0	0	0	5,0	44	40	102,40	Girls

If Abhimanyu Puranik wins his game today, he is assured of a medal

V. Varshini is currently in eighth position. She has to win her game and hope that other results

In the ninth round Abhimanyu drew his game against Bai Jinshi

Getting some excellent exposure at the World Juniors - Harshit Raja and Shailesh Dravid

The World Junior Champion 2018 Parham Maghsoodloo

Parham Maghsoodloo became the World Junior Champion 2018 with a round to spare. He scored 9.5/10 and is two points clear of the field! He has gained 26.5 Elo points and has a rating performance of 2976! Unbelievable, but true. His live rating is now 2691.

I first saw Parham live in action at the IIFLW tournament in Mumbai in January 2018. He was the sixth seed with a rating of 2570. He won the tournament ahead of some strong players like Abhijeet Gupta, Timur Gareyev, Ivan Rozum and many other GMs. After the tournament ended I asked Parham for a short interview. Here's how it went:

Interview with Parham Maghsoodloo at IIFLW tournament in January 2018

One of the things that stood out from that interview was Parham saying," I work 20 hours a day on chess!" I was not sure how to take that. Was that an overstatement? Was he making fun of me? Or was it really true? A lot of people messaged me that day and on the following day that they had seen the video and were surprised that someone could work so hard and love chess so much.

Instead of trying to explain to the world, Parham decided to let his performance do the talking. Just 9 months later Parham has a live Elo of 2691. That means he has added 121 Elo points in last nine months. It is very clear to any chess literate person that this can only be possible for someone who works hard on chess. In the last 10 days I have interviewed Parham at least 8 times and every time he is able to surprise me in some way or the other. Sometimes it is his phenomenal opening preparation that runs as far as 35 moves, sometimes it's his memory that he can actually replay those 35 moves on the board, sometimes it is his ability to find the best move in any given position, no matter how bad it is, and lastly his hunger for chess. Every time he played a game there was a child like enthusiasm in him to see whether he had made the best moves or not. I guess what really motivates him is the challenge of finding all the best moves in the position. Sometimes after the game he would ask me, "So, how did I play?" He knew that I would have checked the games with the engine. The focus for Parham is always on making the best moves in any given position. No wonder, he is able to win game after game! I have no doubt that in the years to come he will be one of the finest players in the world.

Parham Maghsoodloo with his family

Follow the games Live which begins at 12.30 p.m. IST

Watch the commentary Live

Live Commentary for the final round on Turkish Chess Youtube Channel

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