Five-gold haul for India

India capped their superlative performance in the Asian Youth chess championships at Kozhikode on Friday by winning five of the six gold medals at stake, their clean sweep being prevented by the triumph of a Vietnam player in the under-12 boys' category.

India, who were assured three gold medals at the end of the sixth and penultimate round itself yesterday, won the top positions in the boys' under-10 and girls' under-14 categories.

Ravi Teja pipped five of his teammates to win the under-10 boys' title. In the seventh and final round match today, he defeated second seed N Srinath in a Kings Indian defence game.

In the under-14 girls' category, J Rajasurya needed only a draw to clinch the title and she did the needful, splitting points with Raghavi. Rajasurya employed queen's pawn opening which was countered by Sicilian Pelican defence from Raghavi. The players agreed for a draw after just 10 moves.

Top-seed Le Quang Liem of Vietnam was the only foreign player to win a title after a drawn seventh round match against R Ashwath. Liem employed the Dutch defence against queen's pawn opening and the game ended in a draw after 36 moves. 

G Rohit (u-14 boys), Lakshmi Praneetha (u-12 girls) and P Lakshmi Sahiti (u-10 girls) had assured themselves of a gold medal yesterday.

The championships, in which Kazakhstan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Iran and Malaysia also participated, witnessed keen contests in the seventh round, played under the Swiss format.

Third seed Abhijeet Gupta finished runner-up in the under-14 boys' category, defeating G N Gopal, while top seed Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam, who remained a potential threat to the leaders till the penultimate round, had to be content with third spot.

In the under-14 girls, Vietnam's Luong Nhate Linh and Pham Bich N Goc, each with five points, were behind Rajasurya. However, Linh walked away with silver on a better progressive score.

Top seed, India's Mary Ann Gomes, for whom the tournament turned out to be a nightmare, finished a poor 17th with only three points.

Y Sandeep (u-12 boys) was quite unlucky not to be able to effect a clean sweep for India after he had levelled with the ultimate winner, Le Quang Liem, at 5.5 points. Liem recorded a progressive score of 23.5, just 0.5 points more than Sandeep.

Top seed I Ramya Krishna (6 pts) bagged second spot in the under-12 girls, followed by Ngo Dieh Hoa (VIE).

After the under-10 boys' affair ended up in a four-way finish for second spot, K Priyadarshan and defending champion Parimarjan Negi, were declared second and third respectively through a draw of lots. S P Sethuraman and Viani Antonio D'Chunha came fourth and fifth respectively.

Rucha S Pujari claimed silver in the under-10 girls' category with 5.5 points, where top-seed Abylkassymova Raushan (KAZ) finished a poor ninth.

The winners and runners-up here will represent Asia in the World Youth Chess Championship, scheduled to be held in Greece in October.

Results: (Final round):

Boys

Under-14: Rohit G (IND) 6 drew with Rahul Sangma (IND) 5; Nguyen Ngoc Troung S (VIE) 5 drew with D Sai Srinivas (IND) 5; Abhijeet Gupta (IND) 5.5 bt Gopal G N (IND) 4.5;Shah Vishal Vijay (IND) 4 drew with Baltabayev Nursultan (SRI) 4; Suraj M (IND) 4.5 bt Premnath R (IND) 3.5; Toufighi Tamijani Homayoon (IRAN) 4.5 bt Balachandar G (IND) 3.5; Saravana Krishnan P (IND) 3 lost to Vijay Keerthi K (IND) 4;Navin Khanna T U (IND) 4 bt Karthikeyan P (IND) 3; Srinivasan R (IND) 4 bt Vijaya Raghavan T V (IND) 2.5; Behmardi Kalantari R (IRAN) 3.5 bt Palawatta I T (SRI) 2.5; Aswin Jayaram (IND) 3.5 bt Bhor Akshay H (IND) 2.5; Ankit Chauhan (IND) 2 lost to Nguyen Viet Chung (VIE) 3; Sandeep V (IND) 2 lost to Ven Prakash K V (IND) Sanchit Chauhan (IND) 2 lost to Aman Chahal (IND) 2.5.

Under-12: Sandeep Y (IND) 5.5 drew with Narayanan K (IND) 5; Ashwath R (IND) 4.5 drew with Le Quang Liem (VIE) 5.5; Prachura P P (IND) 4.5 drew with Mankeyev Rollan (KAZ) 4.5; Adhiban B (IND) 4 drew with Navneet Sharma (IND) 4; Nitin S (IND) 3 lost to Adithya B (IND) 4; Kamli Amogh (IND) 4 bt Sankalp Modwal (IND) 3; Abhishek Kelkar (IND) 4 bt Mahudesswaran R (IND) 3; Swapnil A Shah (IND) 3 drew with Yuzvendra S Chahal (IND) 3; Shakthi Ediriweera (SRI) 1.5 lost to Adithya Vikas R (IND) 3.5; Abhishe Ravi (IND) 1.5 lost to Sai Sashank P (IND) 3.

Under-10: Parimarjan Negi (IND) 5 drew with Sethuraman S (IND) 5; Ravi Teja S (IND) 5.5 bt Srinath N (IND) 4.5; Viani Antonio D'Cunha (IND) 5 drew with Priyadarshan K (IND) 5; Dhaval Sanjay Adhav (IND) 4.5 bt Shah Fenil (IND) 4; Mirzaei Saleh (IRAN) 4 drew with Koohestani Md Azad (IRAN) 4; Omkar Sanjay Davate (IND) 4.5 bt Udesi Aditya (IND) 3.5; Chua Zheng Yuan Terry (SIG) 4 bt Wong Tsui Hern Daryl (SIG) 3.5; Sahej Grover (IND) 4 bt Shiven Kosla (IND) 3; G Madhukiran (IND) 4 bt Balkishan A (IND) 3; Oshadhi V Kottachchy (SRI) 3 drew with Christer Jon Aplin (SIG) 3; IP Siang (MAL) 1.5.

Girls

Under-14: Rajasurya J (IND) 5.5 drew with Raghav N (IND) 4.5; Luong Nhate Linh (VIE) 5 drew with Soumya Swaminathan (IND) 4.5; Pham Bich Ngoc (VIE) 5 bt Pallavi Maiy H P (IND) 4.5; Saheli Nath (IND) 4 lost to Harini S (IND) 4.5; Saba A Mhate (IND) 4 bt Ketaki S Kulkarni (IND) 3; Anjanaa N Sowjanyaa (IND) 3.5 drew with Kiran Monisha Mohanty (IND) 3.5; Mary Ann Gomes (IND) 3 drew with Sindhu V K (IND) 3.5; Sia Xin Yun Suzanna (SIG) 3.5 bt Prateeka G (IND) 2.5; Kajri Pradip Chokshi (IND) 2 lost to Sowmya H (IND) 3.5; Roshni S (IND) 3 bt Gamage Yasoda M (SRI) 1.5.

Under-12: Lakshmi Praneetha (IND) 7 bt Dhyani B Dave (IND) 3; Ramya Krishna I (IND) 6 bt Pragna Patavi M (IND) 4; Pon N Krithikha (IND) 4 drew with Manogna Mandova (IND) 4; Jayashree P K (IND) 3 lost to Ngo Dieh Hoa (VIE) 4.5; Aparna R (IND) 4 W/O Gayatri M Velu (IND) 3; Dhara Gupta (IND) 3 lost to Kulkarni Bhakti P (IND) 4; Mitali Madhukar Patil (IND) 4 bt Ratnamanik Yam K S (IND) 2.5; Indrani (IND) 1 lost to Ashvithi Walallwita (SRI) 2.5.

Under-10: Lakshmi Sahiti P (IND) 6 lost to Pranali Madhukar Patil (IND) 4.5; Nguyen Ngoc Phuong K (VIE) 4 lost to Rucha S Pujari (IND) 5.5; Chaitanya V (IND) 4.5 drew with Mohana Priya (IND) 4; Bhavna V (IND) 4.5 bt Sai Nirupama Kotepal (IND) 3; Teenu Thomas Thaliyath (IND) 3.5 bt Kiruba H Arasu (IND) 3; Abylkassymova Raushan (KAZ) 3.5 bt Adeline Gan Li Ling (MAL) 1; Sirisha G (IND) 2 lost to Savetha C H (IND) 3.