World Youth 2018: Can India win a medal?

by Sagar Shah - 27/10/2018

The World Championships for under-14, 16 and 18 are being held in Greece from the 20th to the 30th of October 2018. 25 Indians have participated in this event. Seven rounds have been completed and the Indian players who are in top ten places are Sankalp Gupta, Kushagra Mohan, Tejaswini Sagar and L. Jyothsna. There are a few players like Divya Deshmukh and Mrudul Dehankar who have a good chance for a podium finish if they play well in the last four rounds. Indian chess faces a grave problem in such youth tournaments that the best players of the country do not participate in the World Youth Championships. Hence, the chances of us winning medals is significantly reduced. In this article we try to touch upon this problem and hope that a solution is found.

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 beautiful playing hall | Photo: Niki Riga

Organizing youth events is never easy because of the sheer numbers, but the organizers in Greece have done a tremendous job! | Photo: Niki Riga

A couple of years ago we used to have all the sections under-8, 10, 12 and 14,16,18 together. India would always come back with the highest tally of medals because our kids would usually reign supreme in the under-8, 10 and 12 categories. Since this bifurcation has been made (the under-8,10,12 will be held later in a few days in Spain), India has always struggled in the under-14,16 and 18 section. This year too, the chances of our players winning a medal depends upon the results in last four rounds, but we do not have any player in top three spots after seven rounds.

Why is this the case? It is because most of the top players in various age categories have not been taking part in the national events and also in the world youth tournament. Take for example the under-18 section. Players born in 2001 can take part. Our top player is GM Aryan Chopra born in 2001, but he was playing in the India-China match. P. Iniyan born in 2002 is already rated 2476, but he isn't the participating. Arjun Erigaisi, who is already a GM, and born in 2003 is also not to be seen. Nihal Sarin, Prithu Gupta, Praggnanandhaa, Raunak Sadhwani are all playing at the Isle of Man International 2018. It is quite clear - if you do not have your highest rated players fighting for the top prizes, the chances of India winning the medals are also lower.

L. Jyothsna has been the best performing Indian until now. After seven rounds she is on 5.5 and in fourth position in the under-14 girls section. | Photo: Niki Riga

Tejaswini Sagar, who is the current under-18 Commonwealth Champion, is in fifth place in under-18 girls | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich

A lot is expected from the young Divya Deshmukh, who is on 5.0/7 and in 10th place in under-14 girls. A strong finish in last four rounds can assure India of a medal from her. | Photo: Niki Riga

They both are on 5.0/7 and they both are from Nagpur! Divya Deshmukh and Mrudul Dehankar are two of the biggest talents of Indian women's chess and they both hail from the city of Nagpur. They have always been friends cum competitors of each other! | Photo: Niki Riga

Excuse me! No mobile phones allowed! | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich

Some very strong GMs in the world like Sergei Tiviakov are the coaches of various delegations! | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich

The experienced Neeraj Kumar Mishra is the coach of Indian team along with C.S. Gokhale, Kavitha J.E and Puneet Jaiswal | Photo: Niki Riga

Sakshi Chitlange is on 4.5/7 and has good chances of a podium finish | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich

Kushagra Mohan with 5.5/7 is well placed for a strong medal finish | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Sankalp Gupta has played solid chess and with 5.0/7 is on the ninth position | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Under-18 girls is where India can make the maximum difference with Tejaswini, Sakshi and Priyanka, all capable of finishing well | Photo: Niki Riga

Mitrabha Guha is on 4.5/7 in under-18 section | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich

Koustav Chatterjee - 4.5/7 in under-16 | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich

Manu David Suthandram has a rating of just 1970, but it fighting very hard and is on 3.5/7 in the under-18 section | Photo: Niki Riga

Shanya Mishra - 3.5/7 in under-16 girls | Photo: Niki Riga

Tarini Goyal is on 4.0/7 in under-18 girls | Photo: Niki Riga

Overview of Indian performances after seven rounds

SNo		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Pts.	Rk.	Group
30	FM	Mitrabha Guha	2352	IND	1	0	½	1	1	0	1	4,5	22	Open 18
83		Manu David Suthandram R	1970	IND	½	½	0	1	½	½	½	3,5	48	Open 18
28		Sankalp Gupta	2352	IND	1	1	1	0	1	½	½	5,0	9	Open 16
30		Koustav Chatterjee	2344	IND	1	1	0	0	½	1	1	4,5	27	Open 16
73		Vatsal Singhania	2128	IND	0	1	0	1	½	0	1	3,5	56	Open 16
110		Garvit Kumar Kalra	1620	IND	0	½	0	1	½	½	0	2,5	96	Open 16
3	IM	Raja Rithvik R	2421	IND	1	½	½	1	½	1	½	5,0	14	Open 14
26	CM	Kushagra Mohan	2283	IND	1	1	½	½	½	1	1	5,5	8	Open 14
40	AGM	Srihari L R	2170	IND	1	1	0	1	1	0	½	4,5	24	Open 14
12	WIM	Chitlange Sakshi	2237	IND	1	1	1	0	½	0	1	4,5	12	Girls 18
14		Priyanka K	2207	IND	1	1	1	½	0	½	0	4,0	27	Girls 18
20	WFM	Arpita Mukherjee	2147	IND	1	1	0	½	1	½	½	4,5	14	Girls 18
22	WIM	Tejaswini Sagar	2139	IND	1	1	0	1	1	½	1	5,5	5	Girls 18
30	WFM	Tarini Goyal	2026	IND	1	½	½	1	½	½	0	4,0	24	Girls 18
5	WFM	Makhija Aashna	2197	IND	1	½	1	0	1	½	½	4,5	19	Girls 16
21	WFM	Salonika Saina	2093	IND	1	1	1	½	½	0	½	4,5	13	Girls 16
26		Meenal Gupta	2065	IND	0	1	1	1	0	1	½	4,5	22	Girls 16
40		Sanskriti Goyal	1971	IND	1	0	1	½	0	1	1	4,5	27	Girls 16
44		Shanya Mishra	1924	IND	1	1	0	½	0	1	0	3,5	37	Girls 16
52		Tejasvi M	1869	IND	0	1	0	1	0	½	1	3,5	53	Girls 16
86		Sagar Siya	1310	IND	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	2,0	82	Girls 16
4	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	2180	IND	1	1	0	1	1	0	1	5,0	10	Girls 14
11	WCM	Jyothsna L	2060	IND	1	1	1	½	½	1	½	5,5	4	Girls 14
16	WFM	Dhyana Patel	2002	IND	1	1	½	0	1	1	0	4,5	20	Girls 14
20	WCM	Mrudul Dehankar	1996	IND	1	1	0	1	1	0	1	5,0	12	Girls 14

Performance of Indian players

The top three players in open and girls section in Indian nationals under-13, 15, and 17 qualify for the world youth championships under-14, 16, 18 next year. All their costs are covered by the Government of India. The question to be asked is whether we should continue with the current practice or send top three rated players in each section. If we do the latter then the chances of India winning the medals is much higher. However, this approach has the negative point that the national tournaments lose some of their charm. The ideal scenario would be to get all our top players to fight it out in the national championships. But why would our grandmasters like Nihal Sarin, Praggnanandhaa, or aspiring GMs like Prithu Gupta or Gukesh want to play in the National championships? This is a big question which needs to be resolved by All India Chess Federation (AICF). There has to be sufficient motivation for some of our best talents to play in the national tournaments, or there should be a direct all expenses paid entry to the World Youth above a certain rating. Only then will India have the chance to fight against super powers like Russia, Iran, Uzbekistan, etc. who are sending some of their best players to these tournaments.

This picture makes us believe that there can be a solution to every problem! Makropolous and Dvorkovich having a nice time at the World Youth Championships 2018! | Photo: Niki Riga

Related news:

	World Youth 2018: Divya Deshmukh and Sanskriti Goyal win bronze @ 06/11/2018 by Sagar Shah (en)
	World Youth 2018: Nine Indians with a chance for a medal with two rounds to go! @ 29/10/2018 by Sagar Shah (en)