Battle of young intellectuals: National Under-11
Around 220 youngsters from across the country are participating in the National Under-11 Championship 2016 being held in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Nine-yer-old Bharath Subramaniyam (1896) is leading the open section with 6.5/7. The girls section is being dominated by Divya Deshmukh with a perfect 7.0/7. We bring you a report with games.
Battle of young intellectuals: National Under-11
Around 220 youngsters from across the country are participating in the National Under-11 Championship 2016 being held in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The medal winners in this event secure a place in the Asian and World championship in the under-12 category.
Open Category
The top seed Raunak Sadhwani (2084) is struggling at 5.0/7, due to the two losses he suffered in the middle.
Raunak, playing the black pieces, innocuously plonked his bishop on e4. White had a nasty surprise ready.
[Site "SHRI RAMSWAROOP NIRANJANLAL DH"]
[Date "2016.06.30"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Rohith, Krishna S"]
[Black "Sadhwani, Raunak"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1761"]
[BlackElo "2084"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3k2r/pb1nqpp1/1p3n1p/2p1pB2/2P5/2P1PNB1/P2Q1PPP/R2R2K1 b kq - 0 16"]
[PlyCount "4"]
[EventDate "2016.06.28"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
[Site "SHRI RAMSWAROOP NIRANJANLAL DH"]
[Date "2016.07.01"]
[Round "6.3"]
[White "Mullick, Raahil"]
[Black "Sadhwani, Raunak"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1800"]
[BlackElo "2084"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r5k1/1r2npbp/3p2p1/1p1P4/qNp1PB2/5P2/P2RQ1PP/1R3K2 b - - 0 35"]
[PlyCount "36"]
[EventDate "2016.06.28"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
White's point is to invade the dark squares on the black kingside with
something like Be5 and Qh6.} Qa5 $2 (37... f6 $1 38. Qf4 Rf8 39. Nc6 Qc2 $1 40.
Qc1 (40. Rc1 Qd3+ 41. Kf2 Nxc6 42. dxc6 Qd4+ 43. Kf1 g5 44. Qg3 Qd3+ 45. Ke1
Qe3+ 46. Kd1 Ra7 $19) 40... Qd3+ 41. Kf2 Nxd5 42. Bxf8 Nc3 43. Rb2 Nd1+ 44. Kg3
Nxb2 45. Qxb2 Kxf8 46. Qxf6+ Kg8 47. Ne7+ Rxe7 48. Qxe7 c3 49. e5 $14) 38. Be5
f6 39. Bxf6 Rf8 40. Bb2 (40. Bc3) 40... g5 41. d6 Qd8 42. Qd4 Ng6 43. Nc6 Qd7
44. Ne7+ Kf7 45. Nd5 Nf4 46. Qg7+ Ke8 47. Nf6+ Rxf6 48. Qxf6 b4 49. Qh8+ Kf7
50. Qxh7+ Ke6 51. Qh6+ Kf7 52. Qg7+ Ke6 53. Qf6# 1-0
Another nine-year-old, Bharath Subramaniyam (1896), is a phenom to watch out for. He beat Raahil in the seventh round and has waltzed into the lead with 6.5/7.
An exchange down, Bharath with the black pieces was defending actively in a worse position. He had just thrown in the move 26...e4. If you ask yourself what is the point behind this push, you may spot Bharath's cunning trap.
White did not see the point and carelessly played 27.Rae1?? Can you see what Black unleashed?
[Site "SHRI RAMSWAROOP NIRANJANLAL DH"]
[Date "2016.06.30"]
[Round "4.2"]
[White "Pranesh, M."]
[Black "Bharath, Subramaniyam H"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "1746"]
[BlackElo "1896"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6r1/1Q3p1p/3p1k2/4p3/3n1b2/N6P/PP2qPP1/R4R1K b - - 0 26"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2016.06.28"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "IND"]
Qf5+ Qxf5 32. Nxf5 Kxf5 33. a4 $18) 27... Rxg2 28. Kxg2 Qf3+ 29. Kg1 Qxh3 30.
Qe7+ Kxe7 31. Rxe4+ Kd7 32. Re7+ Kxe7 33. Re1+ Kd7 34. f3 Nxf3+ 35. Kf2 Qg3+
36. Ke2 Nd4+ 37. Kf1 Qf3+ 38. Kg1 Ne2+ 39. Rxe2 Qxe2 40. Nc4 Bg3 41. Nb6+ Kc6
42. Nd5 Qf2+ 43. Kh1 Kxd5 44. b3 Qh2# 0-1
The second seed Gukesh D. (2056), time and again, has shown that he possesses nerves of steel. We predict that the title may be decided by Gukesh's eventual clash with Bharath.
Pairings for Round 08:
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 15 | Aaryan Varshney | 1681 | 6 | 6½ | CM | Bharath Subramaniyam H | 1896 | 3 | ||
| 2 | 9 | Rohith Krishna S | 1761 | 6 | 6 | CM | Gukesh D | 2056 | 2 | ||
| 3 | 14 | Samant Aditya S | 1687 | 5½ | 5½ | Sreeshwan Maralakshikari | 1850 | 5 | |||
| 4 | 6 | CM | Mullick Raahil | 1800 | 5½ | 5½ | Manish Anto Cristiano F | 1668 | 17 | ||
| 5 | 10 | Pranesh M | 1746 | 5½ | 5½ | Mahitosh Dey | 1658 | 21 | |||
| 6 | 16 | Manish Kumar (2006) | 1675 | 5 | 5 | CM | Sadhwani Raunak | 2084 | 1 | ||
| 7 | 4 | Pranav V | 1857 | 5 | 5 | Samip Roy | 1664 | 18 | |||
| 8 | 38 | Harshit Ranjan Sahu | 1433 | 5 | 5 | Adarsh Tripathi | 1789 | 7 | |||
| 9 | 8 | Srihari L R | 1765 | 5 | 5 | Jain Kashish Manoj | 1564 | 27 | |||
| 10 | 24 | Dikshant Dash | 1589 | 5 | 5 | CM | Shahil Dey | 1703 | 11 |
Check the complete pairings here.
Girls Category
Divya, as she usually does in such category events, has literally swatted her opponents to pulp left and right and leads with 7.0/7.
Pairings for Round 08:
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
| 1 | 34 | Panda Miracle | 1163 | 5½ | 7 | WFM | Divya Deshmukh | 1908 | 1 | ||
| 2 | 12 | Mohana R | 1336 | 6 | 5½ | Tanvi Vasudev Hadkonkar | 1408 | 10 | |||
| 3 | 6 | Sathwika N | 1441 | 5½ | 5 | Vincent Alaina | 1409 | 9 | |||
| 4 | 2 | Rakshitta Ravi | 1716 | 5 | 5 | Vijayasubhasri S | 1254 | 19 | |||
| 5 | 23 | Harshavardhini M.S. | 1239 | 5 | 5 | Bhagyashree Patil | 1547 | 3 |
Check the complete pairings here.
Mr. Ravi Kumar, who is present at the tournament, reports: In a sitting area for parents, a big LED is displayed so that parents can watch the games of top three boards of open and girls section. Selected players are given free 3-star accommodation attached to the tournament hall. Quality food is also available at the venue so that players don’t have to bother much about the food. [Ed.: Honestly, what more do you need to have some uninterrupted fun and chess?]