Asian Junior & Girls Under-20 Championships, 2015

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 15/12/2015

The city of Bishkek in the Kyrgyz Republic hosted the 2015 Asian Juniors & Girls Under-20 Championship. Although the tournament has not been too famous among the Asian countries – most players just give it a miss – it has always been attractive to some due the customary GM norm awarded to the winner of the tournament. Although India dominated this competition in 2014, this year we could only see a silver performance.

Silver finish for India

The Jannat Regency Hotel, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, hosted the 2015 Asian Juniors and Girls Championship from 2 October 2015 to 12 October 2015. The event was a nine round swiss, with the Open and Girls section held separately, and forty players from nine Asian countries competing.

Team India

Open

Gold: Iranian Masoud Mosadeghpour (2420)

Iran’s Masoud Mosadeghpour (2420) won the tournament with 7.5/9, half a point clear of the second placed Indian IM SL Narayanan (2476).

Silver: Indian IM SL Narayanan (2476) with 7.0/9 [Note: Narayanan has become India's 41s grandmaster!]

Bronze: FM Nima Javanbakht (2401) scored 6.0/9

Final Standings:

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	2		Mosadeghpour Masoud	IRI	2420	7,5	0,0	6	47,5
2	1	IM	Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan	IND	2476	7,0	0,0	5	48,5
3	3	FM	Javanbakht Nima	IRI	2401	6,0	0,0	5	47,5
4	5		Yuan Qingyu	CHN	2382	5,5	0,0	4	46,0
5	6		Yakubboev Nodirbek	UZB	2342	5,5	0,0	4	43,0
6	4		Harsha Bharathakoti	IND	2384	5,5	0,0	3	44,0
7	7		Turar Dastan	KAZ	2243	5,0	0,0	4	48,0
8	12		Mamatov Melis	KGZ	2096	5,0	0,0	4	39,0
9	9	IM	Chakravarthi Reddy M	IND	2195	5,0	0,0	4	38,0
10	8		Taalaibekov Tagir	KGZ	2202	5,0	0,0	3	42,0

Girls

Gold: Uzbek WFM Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegim (2188) scored 7.5/9

Silver: WIM Ivana Furtado (2259) of India also scored 7.5/9, being edged out on tiebreak

Bronze: Indian WIM Pv Nandhidhaa (2102) scored 6.5/9 [Photo: Amruta Mokal]

Final Standings:

Rk.

SNo.

Name

FED.

Rtg.

Pts.

TB1

TB2

TB3

WFM

Tokhirjonova Gulrukhbegim

UZB

2188

7,5

0,5

50,0

WIM

Ivana Maria Furtado

IND

2259

7,5

0,5

50,0

WIM

Nandhidhaa Pv

IND

2102

6,5

1,0

48,5

WFM

Saranya J

IND

2137

6,5

0,0

50,0

WIM

Monnisha G K

IND

2103

6,0

0,0

50,0

Omurbekova Diana

KGZ

1704

5,0

0,0

45,5

Mahdian Anousha

IRI

1757

5,0

0,0

42,5

Hotami Mutriba

TJK

1718

5,0

0,0

30,0

WIM

Parnali S Dharia

IND

2130

5,0

0,0

43,0

Samudin Elina

KGZ

1623

4,5

0,0

41,0

Some choice positions:

Sunilduth Lyna, Narayanan - Javanbakht, Nima 1-0

White to play. Can you see until the end?

Ajygulov, Nurmat - Isaev, Chyngyz 0-1

Black to play. How many possible pins do you spot?

Saranya, J. - Parnali, S Dharia 1-0

What had Black missed while playing …Qe2?

Tokhirjonova, Gulrukhbegim - Monnisha, G K. 1-0

Black has excitedly chopped off a pawn. How can White save the king?

WIM Parnali Dharia had a lackluster tournament though she did win a silver medal in the Rapid event

WFM J Saranya (2137) scored 6.5/9 but was fourth on the tiebreak

WIM GK Monnisha scored 6.0/9 to finish fifth

Harsha Bharathakoti (2384) could muster up only 5.5/9.

IM Chakravarthi Reddy (2195) also had a poor tournament to score 5.0/9, but he was silver in the Rapids

The Asian Juniors Indian team coach IM Ravi Lanka (right)

Solutions to tactics:

Sunilduth Lyna, Narayanan - Javanbakht, Nima 1-0

43. Kd5 a5 (43... Ke7 44. Kc6 a5 45. f6+! Ke6 (45... Kxf6 46. Kd6 a4 47. c6 a3 48. c7 a2 49. c8=Q a1=Q 50. Qh8+ +-) 46. Kb7 a4 47. c6 a3 48. c7 a2 49. c8=Q+ +-) 44. Kd6 a4 45. c6 a3 46. c7 a2 47. c8=Q a1=Q 48. Qh8+ 1-0

Ajygulov, Nurmat - Isaev, Chyngyz 0-1

29... Nxf2 30. Nxf2 Qe2!{The point!} 31. Rf1 Be3 32. Qd1 Bxf2+ 0-1

Saranya, J. - Parnali, S Dharia 1-0

38. Qxh7+ 1-0

Tokhirjonova, Gulrukhbegim - Monnisha, G K. 1-0

27... Bxa3 28. Re1+ Be6 29. Bb5+ Ke7 30. Bd8+ Kf8 (30... Rxd8 31. Qc7+ Rd7 32.
Qxd7+ Kf8 33. Qe8#) 31. Be7+ 1-0

Links:

Official Website: http://www.asianchess20-2015.com/

All photos from the official website