Asian Juniors Rapid: Vaishali's perfect nine

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 04/05/2016

The Asian Junior Championship 2016 began in Delhi on 03 April 2016 with an adrenaline gushing rapid tournament that was won by Iran's IM Masoud Mosadeghpour, with GM Aravindh Chithambaram and GM S.L. Narayanan taking the silver and bronze respectively. In the girls section, Vaishali R. cleaned up her opposition to score a perfect 9.0/9. In the first round of the main event that began the next day, the grandmaster trio had an easy outing but we still witnessed a couple of upsets. Report.

Asian Juniors Rapid: Vaishali's perfect nine

Delhi has always been a magical city for both Indians as well as foreigners. In chess parlance, the Indian capital is slowly metamorphosing into the nation's chess epicentre as well. India is hosting yet another quality chess tournament — the Asian Junior Chess Championship 2016.

The tournament was off to a rousing start at Hotel Park Plaza on 03 April 2016, with India's top juniors aged below twenty assembled to match wits with the foreign contenders. 103 players from 12 different countries are participating in this nine-day long prestigious championship, which is spread across in three formats — standard play, rapid and blitz.

The tournament kicked off in an adrenaline rushing manner with the first day hosting the Asian Junior Rapid Championship 2016.

The organizers, Delhi Chess Association under the able leadership of Mr. Bharat Singh Chauhan, are known to host quality chess tournaments with an ambience that befits the nobility of this sport. (ChessBase India is bringing you a special interview with Mr. Bharat Singh Chauhan very soon.)

The organizers must be paid credits where it is due for making sure that the tournament was held in the right atmosphere. Nevertheless, such quality in terms of organization deserves adequate coverage as well. The next step would be to make the tournament and the games more accessible by bringing in live commentary and social media participation that can elevate the reach of the tournament even further.

The rapid tournament was a nine round affair in the open and the girls section with the time control of 15 minutes + 10 seconds/move.

The open tournament started with fifty-seven players, three of whom where India's youngest grandmasters at the moment — Aravindh Chithambaram, Murali Karthikeyan, and S.L. Narayanan. The girls section looked a bit more interesting, but for those who know Vaishali R., the result was not at all surprising.

WFM Vaishali R. had a rapid rating of 1988, but in standard play, she is rated much higher. She barely had any opposition, though, steamrolling to a perfect nine — 9.0/9!

To show how clean her victory was, have a look at her position here. Black to play.

Bala Kannamma P took the bronze medal.

Medal Winners:

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
Gold	5	WFM	Vaishali R	IND	1988	9,0	0,0	9,0	49,0
Silver	4		Uuriintuya Uurtsaikh	MGL	2007	7,0	0,0	7,0	52,5
Bronze	3		Bala Kannamma P	IND	2009	6,5	0,0	5,0	55,0

View the complete standings here.

Iran's IM Masoud Mosadeghpour scored 8.0/9 to take the gold.

Watch his beautiful win against GM Aravindh Chithambaram:

[Event "Asian Juniors-Open Rapid"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.05.03"]
[Round "6.1"]
[White "Mosadeghpour, Masoud"]
[Black "Aravindh, Chithambaram VR"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D76"]
[WhiteElo "2481"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventType "rapid"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. c4 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. d4 Nb6 8.
Nc3 Nc6 9. Bf4 Bg4 10. d5 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 Ne5 12. Bg2 Rc8 13. Qb3 c5 14. dxc6
Nxc6 15. Nb5 e5 16. Be3 Na5 17. Qb4 Nc6 18. Qb3 Na5 19. Qd3 Nbc4 20. Nxa7 Nxe3
21. Qxe3 Rc2 22. Rfd1 Qb8 23. b4 e4 24. bxa5 Bxa1 25. Rxa1 Qe5 26. Rb1 Rxa2 27.
Bxe4 Rxa5 28. Rxb7 Re8 29. f3 Ra2 30. Kf2 Qa1 31. Nc6 Qh1 32. Qh6 Ra1 33. Ne7+
Kh8 34. Nxg6+ Kg8 35. Ne7+ 1-0

India's GM Aravindh Chithambaram was silver with 7.5/9.

[Event "Asian Juniors-Open Rapid"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.05.03"]
[Round "4.4"]
[White "Karthik, V. AP."]
[Black "Aravindh, Chithambaram VR"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D94"]
[WhiteElo "2366"]
[BlackElo "2528"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventType "rapid"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. h3 c5 8. dxc5
dxc4 9. Bxc4 Qxd1+ 10. Kxd1 Nbd7 11. c6 bxc6 12. Ke2 Rb8 13. Rd1 Nb6 14. Bd3
Nbd5 15. Na4 Nb4 16. Bb1 Be6 17. a3 Bc4+ 18. Ke1 Na6 19. Bc2 Nd5 20. e4 Nb6 21.
Nc3 Nc5 22. Bf4 Rbd8 23. Bc7 Rc8 24. Be5 f6 25. Bf4 Bb3 26. Rac1 Nc4 27. Bxb3
Nxb3 28. Rc2 e5 29. Bc1 f5 30. Ne2 Nb6 31. Be3 c5 32. Nd2 Nd4 33. Bxd4 exd4 34.
Rcc1 Na4 35. Nc4 fxe4 36. b3 Nc3 37. Nxc3 dxc3 38. Rd7 Bd4 39. Rc2 Bxf2+ 40.
Kd1 (40. Rxf2 Rxf2 41. Kxf2 c2) 40... Bd4 41. Re2 Rf1+ 42. Kc2 Rcf8 43. Nd6
R1f2 0-1

Against Rakesh Kumar Jena, Aravindh, playing black, found a pleasing way to end the game.

GM S.L. Narayanan took the bronze medal to complete the podium.

[Event "Asian Juniors-Open Rapid"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.05.03"]
[Round "8.2"]
[White "Sunilduth Lyna, Narayanan"]
[Black "Rahul Srivatshav P"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2507"]
[BlackElo "2313"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventType "rapid"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. h4 c5 4. dxc5 Qa5+ 5. Nd2 e6 6. c3 Nxg5 7. hxg5 Qxc5 8.
Ngf3 d5 9. e4 Nc6 10. Bd3 Be7 11. g6 fxg6 12. exd5 exd5 13. Bxg6+ Kd8 14. Ne4
Qb5 15. Rh5 Qxb2 16. Rb1 Qxa2 17. Rxd5+ Kc7 18. Bf7 Qa3 19. Rb3 Qa6 20. Qc1 Bd7
21. Qf4+ Kc8 22. Rb1 1-0

Medal Winners:

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
Gold	8	IM	Mosadeghpour Masoud	IRI	2296	8,0	0,0	7,0	52,5
Silver	9	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2261	7,5	0,0	7,0	46,0
Bronze	1	GM	Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan	IND	2432	6,5	0,0	6,0	53,0

View the complete standings here.

Standard Play

Aravindh scored a facile victory over Bangladesh's Avik Sarker

In the open category, Indian Grandmaster trio of Aravindh Chithambaram, Karthikeyan Murali, and S. L. Narayanan registered easy victories in the first round against Avik Sarker, Adhithya S., and Srijit Paul respectively.

In a notable result, Subhayan Kundu (2033) held sixth seed FM Nima Javanbakht (2417) of Iran to a creditable draw.

[Event "Asian Junior Open Chess Championship-20"]
[Site "New Delhi"]
[Date "2016.05.04"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Subhayan, Kundu"]
[Black "Javanbakht, Nima"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2033"]
[BlackElo "2417"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2016.05.04"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bg7 6. h3 b6 7. d3 Nh6 8. Nc3
O-O 9. Be3 f5 10. Qd2 Nf7 11. exf5 gxf5 12. Nh2 e5 13. f4 exf4 14. Bxf4 Bd7 15.
Rae1 Qf6 16. Nf3 Rae8 17. Qf2 Kh8 18. Kh1 Qg6 19. a4 Rg8 20. Rxe8 Rxe8 21. Re1
Rxe1+ 22. Qxe1 Qe6 23. Qxe6 Bxe6 24. Bb8 a6 25. Ba7 Ne5 26. Nxe5 Bxe5 27. Bxb6
Bxc3 28. bxc3 Ba2 29. Bxc5 Bb1 30. a5 Bxc2 1/2-1/2

In the girls section, Priyamvada Karamcheti (1766) beat WIM Ivana Maria Furtado (2091) in the opening round.

Playing white side of Nimzo Indian defence, Priyamvada capitalized the crucial mistake committed by Ivana in the 34th move to secure victory in 50 moves.

[Event "Asian Junior Girls Chess Championship-2"]
[Site "New Delhi"]
[Date "2016.05.04"]
[Round "1.6"]
[White "Priyamvada, Karamcheti"]
[Black "Ivana Maria, Furtado"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1766"]
[BlackElo "2091"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2016.05.04"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 d5 5. a3 Be7 6. Nf3 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3
O-O 9. h3 Bb7 10. O-O Nbd7 11. b4 c6 12. Bd2 Bd6 13. Qb3 Qe7 14. Rfc1 a6 15.
Ne2 Ne4 16. Be1 f5 17. Rab1 Kh8 18. Qc2 g5 19. Nd2 g4 20. hxg4 Qh4 21. Nf4 Bxf4
22. exf4 Qxg4 23. f3 Qxf4 24. fxe4 fxe4 25. Nxe4 dxe4 26. Bxe4 Qe3+ 27. Bf2
Rxf2 28. Qxf2 Qxe4 29. Re1 Qg6 30. Rb3 Rg8 31. Re2 Qd6 32. d5 cxd5 33. Qf7 Bc8
34. Re7 Nf8 35. Rg3 Rxg3 36. Qxf8+ Rg8 37. Rxh7+ Kxh7 38. Qxd6 Bb7 39. Qxb6 Rg7
40. Qd4 Kg8 41. g4 Kh7 42. Qf4 Bc8 43. g5 Bb7 44. Kf2 Kg8 45. Ke1 Re7+ 46. Kd2
Rf7 47. Qe5 Bc6 48. g6 Rf2+ 49. Ke1 Rc2 50. Qe6+ 1-0

Meanwhile, the second seed V. Varshini (2223) also got a minor setback as she was forced to sign the peace treaty with Maya Yalkanova of Turkmenistan.

[Event "Asian Junior Girls Chess Championship-2"]
[Site "New Delhi"]
[Date "2016.05.04"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Yalkanova, Maya"]
[Black "Varshini, V."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1831"]
[BlackElo "2223"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2016.05.04"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Nf3 e6 4. Bd3 Be7 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. O-O b6 7. e4 dxe4 8.
Nxe4 Nbd7 9. c3 Bb7 10. Qe2 c5 11. Rd1 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Qc8 13. Bf4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4
Bxe4 15. Qxe4 Nf6 16. Qf3 Bc5 17. Be5 Nd7 18. Nc6 Nxe5 19. Nxe5 f6 20. Nc6 Qc7
21. Qe4 Rfe8 22. Rd3 f5 23. Qf3 Rac8 24. Nd4 Qf7 25. Nb5 e5 26. Qd5 Qxd5 27.
Rxd5 a6 28. Nd6 Bxd6 29. Rxd6 Rb8 30. Kf1 Kf7 31. Rad1 Re6 32. Rd7+ Re7 33.
R7d5 g6 34. Ke2 Rbe8 35. Ke3 Kf6 36. Rd6+ Re6 37. Rd7 R8e7 38. Rd8 b5 39. h4
Re8 40. R8d7 R8e7 41. Rd8 Re8 42. R8d7 R8e7 43. Rd8 Re8 44. R8d7 1/2-1/2

Links:

Pairings for Open and Girls

Official Website