National Juniors: Champion is traveling back with an unreserved ticket
He is the National Junior Champion and he is traveling back home, with his two siblings, with an unreserved ticket in a train. Bihar's Kumar Gaurav began the event as the 42nd seed. To make matters worse, he lost one of the early rounds to a talented young boy. That was all he needed to awaken the fighter within him. He delivered a regal performance to become the champion. There was no breaking news in the girls' section as Vaishali R. made mincemeat of her opponents to win with ease. An illustrated report...
National Juniors: Champion is traveling back with an unreserved ticket
The National Junior Championship 2016 came to a close at Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh with Bihar's Kumar Gaurav winning the title with 8.5/11. Vaishali R. dominated the girls' section and became the girls' champion yet again with 9.5/11, a full 1.5 points ahead of the rest.
Kumar Gaurav is just 14 years old and hails from Araria in north-eastern Bihar. He has two siblings, a brother and a sister, both of whom played this tournament. He lives in a village and his family is buried in debt. For example, in order to help Kumar play the World Youth Championship in Slovenia in 2012, his father ended up mortgaging their house to find the money!
Unreserved compartments are usually overflowing with people, mostly the the poor and downtrodden. More often than not, you will end up traveling without a seat. If you have an unreserved ticket, either you travel like this, or sleep on the floor somewhere.
Kumar has faced his share of hardships and for him and his siblings, chess is not just a game, but a hope to lead a better life. It does not matter to them that they are traveling with unreserved tickets back to their home right now! [Ed.: In-depth report with pictures and games to follow].
But fortunately for Gaurav, the event was won before this loss. He was leading the tournament after nine rounds. In the tenth, he faced Shailesh Dravid with the black pieces.
The position may be easy for some, but the funny thing about it is the number of only moves you need to find if you want to win. Gaurav has a tangible advantage in space thanks to his centralized king.
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.10.15"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Shailesh, Dravid"]
[Black "Kumar, Gaurav"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A18"]
[WhiteElo "2269"]
[BlackElo "1926"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r4/p7/1p6/4k2P/4p3/2P2p2/P1K2P2/7R b - - 0 39"]
[PlyCount "13"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
(40... Rh8 41. Kd2 $11) 41. h6 {And again, there is only one move that wins.} (
41. Rf1 Rh8 (41... Kxe3 42. Re1+ Kf4 43. Re7 $17) 42. h6 Rxh6 $19) 41... f2 $1
42. h7 Rh8 43. Kd2 Rxh7 44. Rxh7 f1=Q $19 45. Re7+ Kd5 (45... Kf5 {Please.} 46.
Rf7+ $18) 0-1
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.10.16"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh"]
[Black "Krishna Teja, N."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E45"]
[WhiteElo "2418"]
[BlackElo "2268"]
[PlyCount "117"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400+30"]
O-O 9. Be2 Nc6 10. cxd5 Bxe2 11. Nxe2 Qxd5 12. O-O Na5 13. Rb1 Rfd8 14. f3 Nb7
15. e4 Qa5 16. a4 Ne8 17. b4 Qh5 18. Qc2 Qh4 19. Qc6 Nbd6 20. Bf4 Qe7 21. Rfd1
Qd7 22. d5 Qxc6 23. dxc6 f6 24. Bxd6 Rxd6 25. Rxd6 Nxd6 26. Nd4 Kf7 27. Nb5
Nxb5 28. axb5 a5 29. Ra1 a4 30. Ra3 e5 31. Kf2 Ke6 32. Ke3 g6 33. Kd2 f5 34.
Kc3 f4 35. Kb2 Ke7 36. Kc2 g5 37. g4 h6 38. Kb2 Ke8 39. Ra1 a3+ 40. Ka2 Rd8 41.
h4 Rd3 42. hxg5 hxg5 43. Rh1 Rxf3 44. Rh8+ Ke7 45. Rh7+ Ke8 46. Rxc7 Rc3 47.
Rg7 Rc4 48. Rxg5 Rxe4 49. Rg8+ Kf7 50. c7 Rc4 51. c8=Q Rxc8 52. Rxc8 f3 53. Rc1
e4 54. Kb3 Kf6 55. Kc3 Kg5 56. Kd2 Kf4 57. g5 e3+ 58. Kd3 f2 59. Ke2 1-0
Final Ranking crosstable after 11 Rounds
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | |
| 1 | 42 | Kumar Gaurav | IND | 1926 | Bihar | 8,5 | 0,5 | 8,0 | 75,0 | 79,0 | 58,75 | |
| 2 | 1 | Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh | IND | 2418 | Maharashtra | 8,5 | 0,5 | 6,0 | 71,5 | 77,5 | 59,00 | |
| 3 | 19 | CM | Sadhwani Raunak | IND | 2173 | Maharashtra | 8,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 73,0 | 77,5 | 54,25 |
| 4 | 8 | Muthaiah Al | IND | 2299 | Tamilnadu | 8,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 72,0 | 77,0 | 53,25 | |
| 5 | 11 | IM | Krishna Teja N | IND | 2268 | Andhra Pradesh | 8,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 69,5 | 75,0 | 51,25 |
| 6 | 20 | Prasannaa.S | IND | 2158 | Tamilnadu | 8,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 68,0 | 72,5 | 50,50 | |
| 7 | 7 | FM | Rajdeep Sarkar | IND | 2306 | West Bengal | 8,0 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 65,5 | 71,0 | 50,75 |
| 8 | 16 | WFM | Tarini Goyal | IND | 2203 | Chandigarh | 8,0 | 0,0 | 5,0 | 63,0 | 67,5 | 49,50 |
| 9 | 4 | IM | Das Sayantan | IND | 2388 | West Bengal | 7,5 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 71,0 | 76,5 | 49,50 |
| 10 | 24 | Sai Agni Jeevitesh J | IND | 2077 | Telangana | 7,5 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 62,5 | 67,0 | 44,25 |
Full standings here.
Girls
Final Ranking crosstable after 11 Rounds
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | K | rtg+/- | |
| 1 | 1 | WIM | Vaishali R | IND | 2295 | Tamilnadu | 9,5 | 0,0 | 9,0 | 70,5 | 76,0 | 64,75 | 20 | 2,8 |
| 2 | 11 | WFM | Bidhar Rutumbara | IND | 1911 | Odisha | 8,0 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 72,5 | 78,5 | 55,00 | 40 | 108,0 |
| 3 | 8 | WFM | Arpita Mukherjee | IND | 2040 | West Bengal | 8,0 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 72,0 | 77,5 | 54,00 | 40 | 68,4 |
| 4 | 5 | WFM | Lasya.G | IND | 2106 | Andhra Pradesh | 8,0 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 67,5 | 73,0 | 49,75 | 20 | -9,0 |
| 5 | 18 | Meghna C H | IND | 1794 | Kerala | 7,5 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 69,0 | 73,5 | 47,75 | 40 | 144,0 |
Full standings here.
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