Indians fail to win a medal at World Junior Chess

International Master Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany won the girls' title at the World Junior chess championship in Istanbul with an easy draw against Woman Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika in the final round.

Paehtz finished with an overall tally of 10 points and her final round draw with white pieces ensured that no one was able to catch her.

The boys' championship was won by Grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan and he became the first player in the history of the championship to win it twice.

In the final round on Tuesday, Mamedyarov played out a draw with Jan Smeets of the Netherlands and finished with a tally of 10.5 points out of a possible 11.

For once, the Indian youngsters failed to bring home a medal in either category after Harika drew her game. It was a big contrast from Indian performance of last year when GM Pendyala Harikrishna won the boys' event, while Eesha Karavade finished third in the girls' section.

GM Deep Sengupta emerged as the best Indian amongst six boys scoring 8 points in all. In the final round game Sengupta defeated Bartlomiej Heberla of Poland in spectacular fashion.

In the boys' championship, GM Ferenc Berkes (9.5 points) of Hungary won the silver after beating Finnish GM Tomi Nyback comprehensively in the last round game.

Grandmasters Evgeny Alekseev of Russia and Vugar Gashimov jointly tied for the third spot on 9 points.

In the girls' section, the silver went to erstwhile leader Gu Xiaobing of China who played a remarkable game to beat WGM Tania Sachdev and finished on 9.5 points. Here also there was a tie for the third place between Turkan Mamedyarova of Azerbaijan and Beata of Poland who both have 9 points.

Important results, final round (Indians unless specified):

Boys': Jan Smeets (Ned, 8.5) drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 10.5); Ferenc Berkes (Hun, 9.5) beat Tomi Nyback (Fin, 8.5); Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Pol, 8) lost to Evgeny Alekseev (Rus, 9); Erwin L'ami (Ned, 8) lost to Vugar Gashimov (Aze, 9); Alexander Kharitonov (Rus, 8) drew with Wang Yue (Chn, 8.5); Daniel Stellwagen (Ned, 8.5) beat Sergei Zhigalko (Blr, 7.5); Li Chao (Chn, 8.5) beat Borki Predojevic (Bih, 7.5); Wang Hao (Chn, 8) drew with Igor Kurnosov (Rus, 8); Bartel Mateusz (Pol, 7) lost to Davit Magalashvili (Geo, 8.5); Evgeny Tomashevsky (Rus, 8) beat Gaby Livshits (Isr, 7); Ildar Khairullin (Rus, 7.5) drew with Glud Jacob Vang (Den, 7.5); Kalin Karakehajov (Bul, 7.5) drew with Viktor Laznicka (Cze, 7.5); Bartlomiej Heberla (Pol, 7) lost to Deep Sengupta (8); G Rohit (7) drew with Andrey Zhigalko (Blr, 6.5). Nidjat Mamedov (Aze, 7.5) beat S Poobesh Anand (6.5); Yaroslav Zinchenko (Ukr, 6.5) drew with G N Gopal (6); Parimarjan Negi (6.5) drew with Barnaure Vlad-Victor (Rom, 6.5); Cornette Matthieu (Fra, 7) beat Akshat Khamparia (6).

Girls': Elisabeth Paehtz (Ger, 10) drew with D Harika (9); Irina Vasilevich (Rus, 8.5) lost to Turkan Mamedjarova (Aze, 9); Natalija Pogonina (Rus, 8.5) lost to Nana Dzagnidze (Geo, 7.5); Gu Xiaobing (Chn, 9.5) beat Tania Sachdev (7.5); Beata Kadziolka (Pol, 9) beat Andriasian Siranush (Arm, 7.5); Melia Salome (Geo, 8.5) beat Marina Guseva (Rus, 7.5); Zhang Jilin (Chn, 8) beat Jolanta Zawadzka (Pol, 7.5); Karina Szczepkowska (Pol, 8) beat Eesha Karavade (7); Maka Purtseladze (Geo, 7) lost to Alina Motoc (Rom, 7); Kruttika Nadig (7) result awaited Bela Khotenashvili (Geo, 7); Mongontuul Bathuyag (Mgl, 6.5) result awaited Dana Aketaeva (Kaz, 7); Anna Ushenina (Ukr, 6.5) result awaited Marlies Bensdorp (Ned, 6.5); Adeline Chaumont (Fra, 4.5) result awaited N Raghavi (4.5).