World Youth 2018: Nine Indians with a chance for a medal with two rounds to go!

by Sagar Shah - 29/10/2018

With two rounds to go for the World Youth Championships 2018 (under-14,16,18) things are heating up in Porto Carras, Greece. The Indians who are in top ten after nine rounds and have a theoretical chance of winning a medal are Sankalp Gupta, Rithvik Raja, Kushagra Mohan, Arpita Mukherjee, Tejaswini Sagar, Aashna Makhija, Divya Deshmukh, Sanskriti Goyal, and L. Jyothsna. Sanklap Gupta completed his final IM norm and is on the brink of becoming India's latest International Master. There are in all 36 medals at stake. How many we win will be decided by the outcomes in the last two rounds. A pictorial report.

The World Youth Championships 2018 are being held in Porto Carras Grand Resort, Chalkidikki, Greece from 20th to the 30th of October 2018. The best players from all over the world in under-14, 16 and 18 categories have gathered together and are playing in six different sections. India has a contingent of 25 players vying for the top spots.

The big news comes from the under-16 event where Sankalp Gupta from Nagpur achieved his final IM norm. The boy is also gaining 39 Elo points which takes his live rating to 2391. He is just nine Elo points away from becoming India's next International Master. More importantly, he is also in the fifth position and has an excellent chance of winning a medal for the country. Sankalp is trained by IM Swayams Mishra from Odisha. Swayams, a strong player himself, is in Greece with Gupta, helping him to prepare for his games. Here's what the coach had to say about the achievement of his student:

Kushagra Mohan has remained unbeaten in the under-14 section and is on 6.5/9 and in the seventh position | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich

The three girls in under-18: (L-R) Tejaswini Sagar, Sakshi Chitlange and K. Priyanka. Tejaswini has been playing very well at the event and is on 7.0/9 and in third place | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich

The under-14 girls section is keenly contested by Indians with Jyotsna on the sixth place and...| Photo: Niki Riga

...Divya on seventh | Photo: Niki Riga

Rithvik Raja with 6.5/9 is unbeaten in the under-14 section and needs a couple of wins to end the tournament on a high note

Overview of Indian performance after nine rounds

SNo		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pts.	Rk.	Group
30	FM	Mitrabha Guha	2352	IND	1	0	½	1	1	0	1	0	1			5,5	30	Open 18
83		Manu David Suthandram R	1970	IND	½	½	0	1	½	½	½	½	½			4,5	48	Open 18
28		Sankalp Gupta	2352	IND	1	1	1	0	1	½	½	½	1			6,5	5	Open 16
30		Koustav Chatterjee	2344	IND	1	1	0	0	½	1	1	1	½			6,0	20	Open 16
73		Vatsal Singhania	2128	IND	0	1	0	1	½	0	1	0	½			4,0	76	Open 16
110		Garvit Kumar Kalra	1620	IND	0	½	0	1	½	½	0	½	0	0	0	3,0	104	Open 16
3	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2421	IND	1	½	½	1	½	1	½	1	½			6,5	9	Open 14
26	CM	Kushagra Mohan	2283	IND	1	1	½	½	½	1	1	½	½			6,5	7	Open 14
40	AGM	Srihari L R	2170	IND	1	1	0	1	1	0	½	0	1			5,5	27	Open 14
12	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2237	IND	1	1	1	0	½	0	1	½	0			5,0	27	Girls 18
14		Priyanka K	2207	IND	1	1	1	½	0	½	0	½	1			5,5	21	Girls 18
20	WFM	Arpita Mukherjee	2147	IND	1	1	0	½	1	½	½	½	1			6,0	10	Girls 18
22	WIM	Tejaswini Sagar	2139	IND	1	1	0	1	1	½	1	1	½			7,0	3	Girls 18
30	WFM	Tarini Goyal	2026	IND	1	½	½	1	½	½	0	1	½			5,5	15	Girls 18
5	WFM	Makhija Aashna	2197	IND	1	½	1	0	1	½	½	1	½			6,0	12	Girls 16
21	WFM	Salonika Saina	2093	IND	1	1	1	½	½	0	½	0	1			5,5	17	Girls 16
26		Meenal Gupta	2065	IND	0	1	1	1	0	1	½	½	0			5,0	29	Girls 16
40		Sanskriti Goyal	1971	IND	1	0	1	½	0	1	1	1	1			6,5	9	Girls 16
44		Shanya Mishra	1924	IND	1	1	0	½	0	1	0	1	1			5,5	22	Girls 16
52		Tejasvi M	1869	IND	0	1	0	1	0	½	1	0	½			4,0	59	Girls 16
86		Sagar Siya	1310	IND	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1			3,0	77	Girls 16
4	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	2180	IND	1	1	0	1	1	0	1	1	½			6,5	7	Girls 14
11	WCM	Jyothsna L	2060	IND	1	1	1	½	½	1	½	½	½			6,5	6	Girls 14
16	WFM	Dhyana Patel	2002	IND	1	1	½	0	1	1	0	1	0			5,5	22	Girls 14
20	WCM	Mrudul Dehankar	1996	IND	1	1	0	1	1	0	1	0	1			6,0	13	Girls 14

Complete list of results

Follow the final two rounds of the tournament on ChessBase Live

Related news:

	World Youth 2018: Divya Deshmukh and Sanskriti Goyal win bronze @ 06/11/2018 by Sagar Shah (en)
	World Youth 2018: Can India win a medal? @ 27/10/2018 by Sagar Shah (en)