Harshini leads Indian challenge at World Schools

by Niklesh Jain - 07/12/2016

The temperature in Sochi, Russia is around zero degrees Celsius. A pack of 18 Indians are braving the weather and fighting it out at the World Schools 2016, trying to bring home a medal. Currently it is A. Harshini in the under-15 girls section who is performing the best with 3.5/4. Niklesh Jain is in Russia as the head of the Indian delegate and he brings us not only pictures, but lots of interesting tidbits about players, organization and interviews with interesting personalities.

Four rounds have been completed at the World Schools held in Sochi, Russia from 3rd to the 11th of December 2016. No Indian player is on a perfect score with 4.0/4, but we have A. Harshini who is on 3.5/4.

The day in Sochi began with snow today. The temperature was around 0 degree celsius.

The weather ensured that all the kids from India stayed inside their room. It's a beautiful hotel near the black sea, but chess players always like to prepare for their games and as the head of the delegate I was very happy to see their dedication.

Anyway the temperature in the playing hall is absolutely normal and the players have no issues

Indian players after four rounds:

SNo		Name	Rtg	FED	1	2	3	4	Pts.	Rk.	Group
6		Tvisha Mangesh Shah	1201	IND	0	0	1	0	1,0	30	G7
31		Singh Ziana	0	IND	0	0	1	0	1,0	31	G7
10		Bhagat Kush	1281	IND	1	1	0	1	3,0	9	U7
3		Savitha Shri B	1512	IND	1	0	1	1	3,0	8	G9
23		Anishka Vikram	1171	IND	0	1	1	0	2,0	16	G9
28		Aarna Chugh	1099	IND	1	0	1	0	2,0	17	G9
34		Bajaj Ishita	0	IND	0	0	1	0	1,0	39	G9
35		Bajpai Vanshika	0	IND	0	0	0	0	0,0	42	G9
69		Shaw Sidhant	0	IND	0	½	1	0	1,5	57	U9
16	WCM	Dhyana Patel	1555	IND	1	1	1	0	3,0	6	G11
45		Jain Omi	0	IND	0	0	0	0	0,0	48	G11
58		Agrawal Aaryan	0	IND	0	0	0	1	1,0	61	U11
23		Nanditha V	1528	IND	1	½	0	0	1,5	22	G13
19		Shah Rishab	1888	IND	1	1	0	½	2,5	16	U13
28		Shourya Jain	1791	IND	1	½	0	0	1,5	36	U13
51		Grover Rudraksh	1004	IND	0	0	0	0	0,0	56	U13
5		Harshini A	1944	IND	1	1	1	½	3,5	1	G15
21		Ayush Pattanaik	1798	IND	0	1	0	1	2,0	18	U15

Dhyana Patel was on 3.0/3 in the under-11 section, but lost her fourth round

[Event "World Schools Girls U11"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2016.12.05"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Dhyana, Patel"]
[Black "Nasyrova, Ekaterina"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "1555"]
[BlackElo "1962"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2016.12.03"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d4 Bxd4 6. Nxd4 Nxd4 7. f4 d6 8.
fxe5 dxe5 9. Bg5 Qe7 10. Na3 Be6 11. c3 Nc6 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. Kh1 Rg8 14. Bxe6
fxe6 15. Rf2 Rg6 16. Nc2 Rd8 17. Qe2 Kd7 18. Raf1 Kc8 19. Ne3 Rdg8 20. h3 Rf8
21. Ng4 h5 22. Nh2 Rh6 23. b4 Qh7 24. Nf3 Qg7 25. b5 Ne7 26. Nxe5 f5 27. Qe3
Rhh8 28. Nd3 b6 29. exf5 exf5 30. Nf4 Re8 31. Qf3 Kb8 32. Nxh5 Qe5 33. c4 Ng6
34. Nf4 Nh4 35. Qg3 Qc5 36. Qc3 Rh7 37. Nd5 Re4 38. Rc2 Rd4 39. Nb4 Kb7 40. Na6
Qe5 41. c5 bxc5 42. Nxc5+ Kc8 43. Re1 Qh8 44. Qxd4 Qxd4 45. Re8+ Qd8 46. Rxd8+
Kxd8 47. Ne6+ Kc8 48. Rc4 Ng6 49. Nf4 Nh4 50. Rc3 Rg7 51. Kh2 Kb7 52. g3 Ng6
53. Nxg6 Rxg6 54. Kg2 Rd6 55. Kf3 Rd4 56. Rc5 Ra4 57. Rxf5 Rxa2 58. h4 Rh2 59.
Kg4 a5 60. bxa6+ Kxa6 61. h5 Kb6 62. Kg5 c5 63. h6 c4 64. Kg6 c3 65. h7 c2 66.
Rf1 Ka5 67. Rc1 Kb4 68. Rxc2 1-0

A. Harshini has been the best performing Indian until now and is on 3.5/4 in the girls under-15 section

[Event "The world school chess championship"]
[Site "Sochi"]
[Date "2016.12.05"]
[Round "3.25"]
[White "Durdyyeva, Jennet"]
[Black "Harshini, A."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "1421"]
[BlackElo "1944"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. h3 h6 7. c3 O-O 8. a4 a5
9. Be3 Ba7 10. Nbd2 Ne7 11. Re1 Ng6 12. Nf1 c6 13. Ba2 Be6 14. Bxa7 Rxa7 15. d4
Bxa2 16. Rxa2 Re8 17. Ng3 Qd7 18. Nf5 d5 19. dxe5 dxe4 20. exf6 Qxf5 21. fxg7
Raa8 22. Nd4 Qg5 23. Re3 Re5 24. Rg3 Qf6 25. Qe2 Rae8 26. Ra1 Nf4 27. Qe3 Nd5
28. Qd2 Rg5 29. Rxg5 hxg5 30. Re1 Re5 31. Nc2 Kxg7 32. Ne3 Qf4 33. g3 Qf3 34.
Qd4 f6 35. Ng4 Re7 36. c4 Nb4 37. Qd6 Rf7 38. Qe6 Nd3 39. Rxe4 Nc5 40. Re3 Qd1+
41. Re1 Qxa4 42. Qf5 Nd7 43. Re8 Qd1+ 44. Kg2 Qd6 45. Re6 Qc5 46. Qd3 Re7 47.
Rxe7+ Qxe7 48. Ne3 Nc5 49. Nf5+ Kf8 50. Qd6 Qxd6 51. Nxd6 b6 52. Nc8 b5 53. Na7
bxc4 54. Nxc6 a4 55. Na5 c3 56. Nc4 c2 57. Ne3 c1=Q 58. Nc2 0-1

Kush Bhagat is the only Indian in the under-7 open section and is currently on 3.0/4

Rushabh Shah is playing in the under-13 open group and is on 2.5/4

1.5/4 for Shourya Jain in the under-13 section

Under-9 girls, Anishka Vikram is on 2.0/4

With 1.5/4 Sidhant Shaw has already achieved a rating performance

Under-9 girls Aarna Chug is on 2.0/4

Playing for the first time at World Schools Vanshika Bajpai is enjoying herself

Madhya Pradesh under-9 champion Ishita Bajaj is on 1.0/4

Omi Jain is looking to get her rating in this tournament

Something for us to learn

Although chess was invented in India, it has been carefully preserved and cared for by the Russians. There is a reason why the country has produced 13 World Champions! Chess is a compulsory subject in school and the Russian chess association makes sure that the schools receive all the help that they need by giving them free books, chess boards, clocks etc. I got the opportunity to speak with President of Russian chess school Union Alexander Kostyev.

Tournament director Alexander Tkachev felicitates few of the Russian kids during the event

A good experience

It's a moment of pride for me that I am a member of the appeals committee

Being around experienced people, I am learning a lot. And this is exactly my aim.

Picture Gallery!

A superman always plays the Sicilian!

Time to stand up for what I believe!

Concentration personified!

Would you like to buy?!

A perfect buy for the cold weather

Some people are immortal: Mark Dvoretsky

Trying my hand at photography. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

My report in popular Hindi newspaper Punjab Kesari

Official website

About the Author

FIDE Instructor Niklesh Kumar Jain has participated in tournaments in almost in 20 different countries, winning the international tournament in Sri Lanka in 2010. He also worked for a television network as an anchor and news writer for two years and reported in Hindi during the World Chess Championships in 2013 and 2014. Niklesh loves to write about tournaments and take interviews of the players. You can connect with him here.