World Junior Chess: Divya Deshmukh surges ahead
The Sicilian Najdorf came in handy for the top-rated Indian, who is seeking her maiden world junior title and is by far the favourite with her accomplishments and rating.
Divya Deshmukh (IANS)
GANDHINAGAR: Capitalising on an optical blunder by Ayan Allahverdiyeva of Azerbaijan, top seed Divya Deshmukh nosed ahead of the field in the World Junior Girls' chess championship here.
The Sicilian Najdorf came in handy for the top-rated Indian, who is seeking her maiden world junior title and is by far the favourite with her accomplishments and rating.
Divya got what she wanted out of the opening, an open white king and the dynamics that help her calculation skills. Allahverdiyeva got some chances to hold as the endgame approached but her knight was left unattended and Divya did not give a second chance.
With 5.5 points in her bag, Divya is now followed by Mariam Mkrtchyan of Armenia, Norman Kseniya of Russia and Normin Abdinova of Azerbaijan who all have five points apiece. The second highest rated Indian girl, Rakshitta Ravi, is close on the heels of the leaders with 4.5 point.
In the open section, highest-rated Indian Pranav Anand was held to a draw by Prraneeth Vipulla and inched up to 4.5 points in all.
Jose Gabriel Cardoso of Columbia, Nogerbek Kazybek of Kazakhstan, Rudik Makarian of Armenia and L M S T De Silva share the lead on five points apiece in this section. The matches will resume after the lone rest day.
Top results (Indians unless stated): Jose Gabriel Cardoso (Col, 5) drew with Nogerbek Kazybek (Kaz, 5); Aleksey Grebnev (Fid, 4.5) drew with Daniel Quizon (Phi, 4.5); Prraneeth Vuppala (4.5) drew with Pranav Anand (4.5); Mayank Chakraborty (4) lost to Rudik Makarian (Fid, 5); Marius Fromm (Ger, 4.5) drew with V S Nandish (4.5); L M S T De Silva (Sri, 5) beat Subelj Jan (Slo, 3.5); Dudin Gleb (Hun, 4.5) beat Simon Rybka (Svk, 3.5); Emin Ohanyan (Arm, 4.5) beat Domalchuk-Jonasson Aleksandr (Isl, 3.5); Artiom Stribuk (Fid, 4.5) beat L R Srihari (3.5); Gharibyan Mamikon (Arm, 4.5) beat Tarun Kanyamarala (Irl, 3.5); Harshit Pawar (4) drew with Tobias Koelle (Ger, 4); Aditya Samant (4) drew with Ayush Sharma (4); Sanket Chakravarty (3.5) lost to Luka Budisavljevic (Srb, 4.5); A R Ilamparthi (4.5) beat Adireddy Arjun (3.5); Zhangir Bizhigitov (Kaz, 3.5) drew with Abhimanyu Mishra (Usa, 3.5); Mark Smirnov (Kaz, 3) lost to Siddharth Jagadeesh (Sgp, 4);Alekhya Mukhopadhyay (3) lost to Ethan Vaz (4); Nihal Swarna (3) lost to Sambit Panda (4); S Aswath (4) beat Jyotshnav Talukdar (3).
Girls: Ayan Allahverdiyeva (Aze, 4.5) lost to Divya Deshmukh (5.5); Mrittika Mallick (4) lost to Mariam Mkrtchyan (Arm, 5); Beloslava Krasteva (Bul, 4) lost to Norman Kseniya (Fid, 5); Martyna Wikar (Pol, 4.5) drew with Sachi Jain (4.5); Balabayeva Xeniya (Kaz, 4.5) drew with R Kashthuri Bhai (4.5); Narmin Abdinova (Aze, 5) beat V Rindhiya (4); Lucia Striskova (Svk, 4) lost to Rakshitta Ravi (4.5); Mrudul Dehankar (3.5) lost to Sofia Hryzlova (Sui, 4.5); Anna Zhurova (Fid, 4.5) beat Oshini Gunawardhana Devindya (Sri, 3.5); Lala Shohradova (Tkm, 4) drew with Anastasia Grozdanovic (Srb, 4); Yashvi Jain (3.5) lost to Kaldarova Ayaulym (Kaz, 4.5); Swara Lakshmi S Nair (4) drew with Milena Gasparyan (Arm, 4); Bhagyashree Patil (4) beat Liya Kurmangaliyeva (Kaz, 3); Trisha Kanyamarala (3.5) drew with Ishvi Aggarwal (3.5); Dakshita Kumawat (4) beat Rzali Sabina (Aze, 3); Nia Donghvani (Geo, 3.5) drew with Bristy Mukherjee (3.5); Arshiya Das (3.5) drew with G Tejaswini (3.5); Sharanya Gade (4) beat Anishka Vikram (3); Saparya Ghosh (3) lost to Sneha Halder (4); Meryem Agajanova (Tkm, 4) beat Chinnam Vyshnavi (3); Elisa Cassi Ita, 3.5) beat Arya G Mallar (3).