World Youth Olympiad Round 2+3: India and Russia!

The second day of the World Youth Olympiad 2017 was a hectic one. It was a double round day and the timings were 9.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. While generally at the open events I could see players yawning, at this youth event the double rounds didn't really affect the players! They were as always full of enthusiasm. After three rounds we have only two teams with a 100% score India Green and Russia. Let's have a look at what happened in the day.

India Green:

This is the crowd puller team. With the lone GM of the tournament Aryan Chopra, two young talents Pragg and Nihal, the aggressive genius of Iniyan and woman power of Vaishali R. every Indian fan is hoping for the India Green team to win this event. And it did everything right on day two.

The match went as per plan for the Indians as Aryan Chopra and Pragg fired from the front and Nihal and Vaishali held draws on board three and four. A clinical 3-1 victory:

Pragg's win wasn't as smooth as Aryan's. In mutual time trouble the youngster was able to outwit his opponent.

The last two boards ended in draws and India scored a convincing 3-1 win over Turkey.

In the third round India faced a much stronger challenge in the form of Armenia. The Armenians are the fourth seeds and have 2450 players on the top two boards and 2350+ guys on bottom two. It was a close match. This time it was Nihal Sarin and Iniyan who gave India a 2.5-1.5 victory over their rivals.

A quick win can really boost the morale of the entire team. It means that even if all the other games end in a draw, your team goes through. One of P. Iniyan's biggest assets is his confidence. And he made the move 3.a3 with great conviction:

Iniyan played a game where it was all about piece power. He navigated the complications well and brought home the full point. His opponent missed many chances to play better as shown in the analysis below:

Nihal Sarin was up against David Mirzoyan (2345). Seeing him play, took me back in time. The young boy hardly used to sit in his chair in 2014 and things haven't changed. He is just walking around and calculating his moves. Seeing Nihal play like this might give you the false impression that the boy is tensed. Far from it, he is enjoying every bit of the struggle. He just cannot sit down!

But I did make him sit besides me for a full thirty minute session. We analyzed the game in great depth. We even looked at the Benko where Nihal showed the best line that Black can play, soon we also had Pragg who finished the game join in, so overall it was a fun session. The thing that struck me as most unique about Nihal is the logical way in which he would think. The entire game is like a story unfolding for the boy. Each move has its role to play in the tale and it has to be backed up with accurate reasons (calculations). I would try to rush ahead with a few moves, but he would ask me to come back and consider another possibility for his opponent. This boy is really thinking about the best moves for both the sides. If you ask me, I find him as an epitome of objectivity. It's a 30 minute masterclass from a future champion - learn from Nihal:

After Iniyan and Nihal had won, team India green needed just half a point out of the remaining two games. But Aryan Chopra was losing his game on the top board, while Pragg was in grave danger. Finally Aryan lost, but Pragg managed to eke out the half point and took India over the finish line for a 2.5-1.5 victory over Armenia.

Pragg was lost on many occasions by Sargsyan couldn't finish him off:

Russia:

In the second round Russia was pitted against Belarus. They had a tough match but managed to win thanks to the last board victory by Anna Obolentseva over Kotau Arseni.

One thing which did catch my attention in the Russia - Belarus match was the top board encounter between Semen Lomasov and Viachaslau Zarubitski. The Belarussian player came prepared with a very strong idea and put Lomasov in great trouble, before he wriggled out.

Opening of the day:

Semen Lomasov vs Viachaslau Zarubitski

In the third round Russia had very little difficulty in overcoming Mongolia. They beat them with a score of 3.5-0.5

Russia has now won all of its three matches and so has India green. They are the only two teams on 100% and they setup the top board clash in fourth round.

Iran:

The other team which is extremely strong and have great chances of winning this championship for the third time in a row is Iran. However, it seems as if the team is not getting its act together. It drew its third round match against Uzbekistan. But even in the second round, Aryan Gholami was completely lost. It was only through a miracle that he saved the game.

In round three top rated player of the tournament Amin Tabatabaei lost to Nodirbek Yakubboev. While Firouzja and Gholami delivered on second and third boards, Mahdi Gholami lost on the last board to Daler Vakhidov.

Coach Peter Long said, " I am happy with my team's draw, but at the same time I was expecting a 3:1 result judging from how the games were progressing." Malaysia's performance shows that as a chess nation they are surely climbing up the ladder.

The first three boards ended in draws, and on the fourth board Mitrabha Guha managed to beat Vantika Agarwal and helped team Red to overcome team blue.

Arbiter of the day:

The arbiter of the day is V. Vijayaraghavan from Tamil Nadu. He has worked as the chief arbiter at the women's national premier 2017. Hailing from Coimbatore, he played chess when he was young, but later decided to shift his focus to teaching and working as an arbiter. He is one of the respected arbiters of our country.

Results of round two:

Results of round three:

Rankings after Round 3:

Follow the games live. Round 4 at 15.30 hours on 13th of December.