Girish finishes 3rd

World Under 10 Champion FIDE Master
Girish Arun Kaushik had to remain
content with the third place at the conclusion
of the National Under 11 Championships
organised in Kozhikode, Kerala.

Girish finished with 8.5 points in the 11 round
tournament. The winner was Shiven Khosla
of Maharashtra who finished with 9 points. He
edged out Sayantan Das of West Bengal by
virtue of a better progressive tiebreak score.
Top seeded G.V. Sai Krishna performed much
below expectations and finished 12th.

Girish's next tournament is the World Youth
Chess Championships in Antalya, Turkey
next month. Karnataka chess lovers will hope
that he will bring greater laurels for the state
and the country in this event.

Girish in joint second after 7 rounds

World Under 10 Champion Girish Kaushik
was in joint second place at the end of the
seventh round in the National Under 11
Chess Championships being played at
Kozhikode.

Shiven Khosla of Maharashtra is in the lead
by a clear point. Girish and 7 others will
try to catch up with him in the remaining four
rounds of the event.

Important results (seventh round):

Boys: Shiven Khosla 6.5 bt P.V.S.M. Praveen Kumar 5; Sayantan Das 5.5 drew with R. Eswar 5.5; Ayush Jugle 4.5 lost to Girish A. Kaushik 5.5; Shardul Gagre 5.5 bt Prabhu Anand 4.5; S. Kaushik 5.5 bt Utkal Ranjan Sahu 4.5; Chandrashish Majumdar 5 drew with J. Nishin 5; Sheikh Nubair Shah 5.5 bt G. Akash 4.5; Vasatha Ruba Varman 4.5 lost to Prince Bajaj 5.5; Ragesh Kumar Naikr 4.5 lost to Vaibhav Suri 5.5; Aubhropratim Manna 5.5 bt Osama Saleem 4.5.

Girls: Michelle Catherina 5 lost to P.V. Nanditha 6.5; G. Aiswarya 6 bt G. Lasya 5; Akanksha Gupta 4.5 lost to Navya Vyshnavi 6; P. Balakannamma 4 lost to Sweety Patel 5; Sonakshi Rathore 5 bt Sreeja Seshadri 4; Sunyasakata Satpathy 5 bt Nisha Patkar 4; Parnali Dharia 4 lost to Shweta Gole 5; S.E. Meenu Priya 4.5 drew with T. Navya 4; N. Akshaya 5 bt T.R. Nandini 4; R. Maduravani 4 drew with Soumy Mukherjee 4.

Satvik, Arjun in the top 10

2006 Asian Under 8 Bronze medallist
M. Satvik (ELO 1907) and Arjun Bharat
(ELO 1825) finished 5th and 9th respectively
to keep Karnataka's flag flying high in the
National Under 9 Championship which
concluded at Bangalore.

Arjun Bharat defeated tough customer 2007 Asian
Under 8 Gold Medallist G.V. Revanth Reddy (ELO 1625)
of Andhra Pradesh in the last round encounter.
Had it not been for Arjun's shock first round defeat,
he would have had a better tiebreak and finished
even higher in the prize list. Nevertheless, he
should his recuperative powers and fighting
qualities to finish 9th in this extremely
competitive field.

M. Satvik also did well to stand 5th in the prize
list. Akshay Bharadwaj (ELO 1923) and
R. Parthasarthy stood 24th and 38th respectively.
In the Girls section, it was Andria D'Souza who was
the pick of the lot and she stood 12th in the prize
list. T.C. Meghana and M. Tulsi stood 21st and 22nd
respectively.

Coming on the back of a good display in the National
Subjunior championship in Chennai, this was also an
excellent display by the Karnataka youngsters. Credit
must be given to the coaching team which includes
IM D.V. Prasad, Arvind Shastry, M.S. Thejkumar,
Hanumantha, N. Sanjay and others.

Both Satvik and Arjun will be off to play in the World
Youth Chess Championships to be held in Antalya,
Turkey next month and all the good wishes of the
Karnataka chess lovers will be with them in their efforts!

Boys (final round): Diptayan Ghosh (9.5) drew with Sidhanth Mohapatra (9); Ch Mohineesh (8.5) drew with Sardara Preet (8.5); M. Satvik (8.5) bt Ashwath P. Hari (7.5); Arjun Bharat (8.5) bt Gv. Revanth Reddy (7.5); M. Karthikeyan (7.5) lost to Harikrishnan Mohanan (8.5); Adarsh P. Yeshwanth (8.5) bt Maniar Thirth (7.5).

Girls: Sunya Sakta Satpathy (8) lost to GK Monisha (9.5); Sweety Patel (8.5) bt M. Mahalakshmi (8); Shoumi Mukherjee (9) bt Akhankya Kabi (7); C.H. Meghana (8) bt Divya Garg (7); Ivana Maria Furtado (8) bt Gauri Keshav Hadondkar (7).

Diptiyan and Monnisha lead

Diptiyan Ghosh (ELO 2006) of West Bengal remains the only undefeated player in the boys' section. He scored a crushing win today against Adarsh Yeshwant (ELO 1717) of Tamil Nadu to remain in sole lead at the end of 10th round. The game followed irregular Queen Pawn opening and Diptiyan achieved a dominating position on 28th move. Black's King was pushed in a compromising position and thereafter Diptiyan checkmated his opponent on 39th move.

Sidhanth Mohapatra (ELO 1996) of Orissa played brilliantly to outplay Ashwath Hari (ELO 1704) of Tamil Nadu. The game followed Scotch opening and by 18th move Black's rook proved too menacing for white's 2 minor pieces and Sidhanth won by checkmating his opponent on 58 th move.

Mohineesh C H (ELO 1925) of Andhra Pradesh scored a perfect win against Athul Krishna (ELO 1560) of Kerala on the third board. Mohineesh opted for Queen Pawn opening and by the start of endgame; Mohineesh achieved winning position to checkmate his opponent in 66 moves.

M. Satvik (ELO 1907) and Arjun Bharat (ELO 1825) of Karnataka drew their respective games against their opponents whereas Akshay Bharadwaj (ELO 1923) lost his game against unrated Karthikeyan M of Tamil Nadu.

Diptiyan is being closely followed on the second spot by Sidhanth Mahapatra. One more round remains to be played in this prestigious event.

In the girls' section, G K Monnisha (ELO 1705) of Tamilnadu defeated top seed Sweety Patel (ELO 1983) of Gujarat in an interesting game arising out of Sicilian Pelikan defence. Monnisha checkmated her opponent in 48 moves. On the second board, M. Mahalakshmi (ELO 1710) of Tamil Nadu defeated her compatriot unrated R. Abirami.
Monnisha is in the sole lead with 8.5 points and she is being closely followed by Mahalakshmi and Shoumi on 8 points.

Smooth start to National Under Nine

The twentyfirst edition of the prestigious National Under 9 Chess Championship for Boys and Girls respectively got off to a smooth start on Friday at St. Joseph's PU College campus in Bangalore. 212 boys and 93 girls are playing in this event.

In the Boys section, the seeded players had a no difficulties. However, the seventh board saw a minor upset when Hemant Kumar (ELO 1886) of AP was held to draw by unrated M. Karthikeyan of Tamil Nadu in the second round. On the top board in third round, top seed Diptayan Ghosh (ELO 2006) of West Bengal had an easy outing against Ashwath of AP in an Italian game opening. White blundered a piece on 16th move to lose easily against highly rated Diptayan. Ghosh next plays Aswath P. Hari (ELO 1704) of Tamil Nadu in the fourth round.

On the second board, Chetan Basu played an inaccurate Marshall Attack variation with black pieces to lose 2 pawns by just move 19. White only had to open up Black's kingside to post a crushing win. Chinmay Routray won easily against S. Kumar in an irregular Sicilian defence. Kumar lost an exchange on move 25 to hand over the win to Chinmay.

Karnataka's top rated players in this category - Akshay Bharadwaj (ELO 1923), M. Satvik (ELO 1914), Shabdik Verma and R.V. Anantharam are playing according to the expectations. Akshay Bharadwaj posted an impressive win against Daniel Rajan of TN on the fifth board. Satwik also finished the game in style on board 6 against Hetul Shah of Gujarat. Totally 18 players are sharing the lead in Boys' section with 3 points.

In the girls section second seeded Shoumi Mukherjee (ELO 1766) of West Bengal played a wonderful game against Bansi Prathima of AP to post a win on the top board In a major upset, Dharani sree of TN defeated FIDE rated and National Under 7 Champion Meghana C H (ELO 1716) of Kerala on the second board. M. Mahalakshmi (ELO 1710) of TN also had an easy win on the third board. She defeated Kavya SS of Tamil Nadu. Amongst the Karnataka girls, Andrea D'souza drew her game against Sunya Sakta Satpathy of Orissa. Totally, 8 players are in the lead with 3 points each before the start of the 4th round.

Nice finish by the kids from Karnataka

All the leading participants from Karnataka won their
last round games to finish well in the
National Subjunior Chess Championships
which concluded here at Chennai today.

Pick of the lot was Antonio Viani D'Cunha (ELO 1988) who
beat Under 11 National Champion Fenil Shah (ELO 2124)
in a Closed Sicilian game. Although D'Cunha was seeded
43rd at the start of the event he finished 8th which is a
tremendous performance from him.

World Under 10 Champion and FIDE Master Girish Kaushik
(ELO 2086) beat Ajay Srikanth (ELO 2028) of Tamil Nadu
to finish on 7.5 points and in 14th place after having been seeded
25th initially.

G.A. Stany (ELO 2097) and Niranjan Navalgund (ELO 2012)
won their last round games as well and finished 25th and
53rd respectively. A speical mention must also be made of
Shristi J. Shetty (ELO 1916) who beat J. Sahari (ELO 1836)
of Andhra Pradesh to finish with 7 points and in 13th place
in the Girls section.

To conclude, this was a wonderful performance by the
Karnataka youngsters and more bright performances
can be expected from them in the days to come!


Antonio Viani D'cunha (1988) - Fenil Shah (2124)
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.f4 d5 4.Bb5+ Bd7 5.Bxd7+ Qxd7 6.d3 Nf6 7.e5 Ng8
8.Nf3 Nc6 9.0-0 Be7 10.Ne2 h5 11.c3 Nh6 12.Bd2 Nf5 13.a3 c4 14.Ng3
Nxg3 15.hxg3 Bc5+ 16.d4 Be7 17.Nh2 g6 18.g4 hxg4 19.Nxg4 Na5 20.Kf2
0-0-0 21.Be3 Rh5 22.g3 Rdh8 23.Kg2 Nb3 24.Rb1 Qd8 25.Qf3 Qg8 26.Rh1
Qh7 27.Nf2 Rh2+ 28.Rxh2 Qxh2+ 29.Kf1 Rg8 30.Ke2 Qh7 31.Rh1 Qg7 32.g4
Rh8 33.Rh3 Rh4 34.Rxh4 Bxh4 35.Qh3 Bd8 36.g5 Kd7 37.Qh6 Qg8 38.Ng4 Na5
39.Nf6+ Bxf6 40.gxf6 Nc6 41.Qg7 Qe8 42.Kf3 Nd8 43.Kg4 Kc6 44.Kg5 a6
45.Kh6 Kd7 46.Kh7 Nc6 47.Qh6 Nd8 48.Kg7 Nc6 49.Qh8 Kd8 50.f5 gxf5
51.Qh5 Ne7 52.fxe7+ Kxe7 53.Bg5+ 1-0

Girish A Koushik (2086) - Srikanth Ajay (2028)
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 dxc4 4.Nc3 a6 5.e4 b5 6.e5 Nd5 7.a4 e6 8.axb5
Nb6 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Be3 Qd7 11.bxa6 Rxa6 12.Rxa6 Nxa6 13.Be2 Nb4 14.Qb1
N4d5 15.0-0 Be7 16.Ne4 h6 17.Nfd2 Nxe3 18.fxe3 Bd5 19.Rc1 Qc6 20.Bf3
Qb7 21.Nxc4 Nxc4 22.Rxc4 0-0 23.Qc2 Qa6 24.Rxc7 Bd8 25.Rc3 Bxe4
26.Bxe4 Bg5 27.g3 h5 28.Kg2 Bh6 29.Bf3 g6 30.Be4 Kg7 31.Qf2 Bg5 32.Rc7
Qb6 33.Rb7 Qa5 34.h4 Bd8 35.b4 Qa4 36.b5 Kg8 37.Qc2 Qa5 38.Bxg6 Qe1
Lost On Time. 1-0

Raju S (1872) - Stany G A (2097)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6
8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.c3 Bg7 12.exf5 Bxf5 13.Qf3 Be6
14.Nf4 d5 15.Nxe6 fxe6 16.Qh5+ Ke7 17.Nc2 e4 18.a3 Qe8 19.Qh3 Qg6
20.Be2 Qg5 21.Rd1 Raf8 22.0-0 Ne5 23.Kh1 Ng6 24.Qg3 Qxg3 25.hxg3 h5
26.Rde1 h4 27.g4 Nf4 28.Nb4 Ra8 29.a4 bxa4 30.Bxa6 a3 31.Bb7 Raf8
32.bxa3 Bxc3 33.Nc6+ Kd6 34.Rb1 Nd3 35.Kg1 Nc5 36.Rfc1 d4 37.Rxc3 dxc3
38.Na5 Rb8 39.Rb6+ Ke7 40.Nc6+ Kf6 41.g5+ Kg7 0-1

Shristi J Shetty (1916) - Sahari J (1836)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d3 Nc6 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.0-0 e5 7.Nbd2 Nge7 8.c3
0-0 9.h3 h6 10.Nh2 Kh7 11.Nc4 Be6 12.Ne3 Qd7 13.g4 g5 14.Nf5 Ng6
15.Nf3 Nce7 16.d4 Rad8 17.Nxg7 Bc4 18.Nh5 f6 19.Re1 Qe8 20.Ng3 Be6
21.Nf5 Bxf5 22.exf5 Nf4 23.Bxf4 gxf4 24.Nh4 Rg8 25.Ng6 Nxg6 26.fxg6+
Kh8 27.Be4 Rg7 28.Qd2 Re7 29.Bf5 Kg7 30.Rad1 b6 31.dxc5 bxc5 32.b4
cxb4 33.cxb4 Qa4 34.Rc1 Qa3 35.Kg2 d5 36.Rc5 Qa4 37.Rxd5 Rxd5 38.Qxd5
Qxb4 39.Rc1 Qb7 40.Qxb7 Rxb7 41.a4 Re7 42.a5 e4 43.a6 e3 44.fxe3 fxe3
45.Kf1 Kg8 46.Rc8+ Kg7 47.Rb8 e2+ 48.Ke1 Re3 49.Rb7+ Kg8 50.Rxa7 Rxh3
51.Kxe2 white won in 84 moves 1-0

Viani D'Cunha continues to surprise

Karnataka's Antonio Viani D'Cunha (ELO 1988)
continued his fine run by holding highly
rated International Master B. Adhiban (ELO 2422)
to a draw in the 8th round and defeating Praveen
Kumar (ELO 2064) in the 9th round of the National
Subjunior Chess Championships being played in
Chennai.

D'Cunha of Mangalore now has 7 points and is in
joint second along with two others - IM Adhiban and
Ramnath Bhuvanesh both of Tamil Nadu. He next plays
leader and top seed IM S.P. Sethuraman (ELO 2427)
of Tamil Nadu in the 10th round. A satisfactory performance
in the remaining two rounds may get him a spot in the
Indian team for the Under 16 Olympiad next year.

Also doing well is G.A. Stany (ELO 2097) who held
FIDE Master Prasanna Rao (ELO 2228) of Maharashtra
to a draw. Stany, with 6 points, could try to finish in
the top ten with a strong finish

Antonio Viani D'cunha (1988) - Praveen Kumar (2064)
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bb5 Nd4 6.0-0 Nxb5 7.Nxb5 d5
8.e5 a6 9.Nc3 Bg4 10.d4 cxd4 11.Qxd4 e6 12.Be3 Ne7 13.Qd2 Bxf3 14.Rxf3
b5 15.Bc5 Nc6 16.Ne2 Bf8 17.Bxf8 Kxf8 18.a4 Qb6+ 19.Kh1 b4 20.Raf1 Kg7
21.Rg3 Rhe8 22.Rh3 Rh8 23.f5 h5 24.fxg6 fxg6 25.Qg5 Qd8 26.Rf6 Nxe5
27.Rhf3 Rf8 28.Ng3 Qc7 29.Nxh5+ Kg8 30.Rxg6+ Nxg6 31.Qxg6+ Kh8 32.Nf6
1-0

Stany G A (2097) - Prasanna Rao (2228)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.d3 Nd7 7.Nbd2 g6
8.h4 h5 9.Nc4 Bg7 10.Bg5 f6 11.Be3 c5 12.Qd2 b6 13.0-0-0 Bb7 14.Nh2
Qe7 15.f4 exf4 16.Bxf4 0-0-0 17.Nf3 Nf8 18.Kb1 Ne6 19.Rhe1 Nxf4
20.Qxf4 Rhe8 21.g4 Qd7 22.gxh5 gxh5 23.Ne3 Kb8 24.Nf5 Bf8 25.Ne3 Bd6
26.Qf5 Qf7 27.Rf1 Qe7 28.Qxh5 Rh8 29.Qg4 Rdg8 30.Qh3 Rg3 31.Qh1 Bc8
32.Rg1 Rh3 33.Qg2 Qf7 34.Qf2 Be6 35.a3 Qh5 36.Rdf1 Bf4 37.Rh1 Rxh1
38.Rxh1 Rg8 39.Rg1 Rxg1+ 40.Nxg1 Bxe3 41.Qxe3 Qxh4 42.b3 Qg4 43.Ne2 a5
44.a4 Qh5 45.Nf4 Qe5 46.Qf2 Bc8 47.Ng6 Qe6 48.Nf4 Qe5 49.Ng6 Qe6
50.Nf4 Qe5 51.Qf3 Qg5 52.Ng2 f5 53.Ne3 fxe4 54.Qxe4 Qg1+ 55.Kb2 Qg7+
1/2-1/2

Adhiban B (2422) - Antonio Viani D'cunha (1988) [B43]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bd3 b5 7.0-0 Bb7 8.Qe2
Nd7 9.f4 Ngf6 10.Kh1 Qc7 11.Bd2 Be7 12.b4 0-0 13.a4 bxa4 14.Rxa4 Qb6
15.Nb3 d5 16.e5 Ne4 17.Nxe4 dxe4 18.Bxe4 Bxe4 19.Qxe4 Qb5 20.Raa1 Nb6
21.Na5 Rac8 22.c3 Rfd8 23.Rfd1 Rd7 24.Qe1 Nc4 25.Nxc4 Qxc4 26.Rdc1 Rd3
27.h3 Rcd8 28.Be3 h6 29.Kg1 Rc8 30.Ra3 Rxe3 31.Qxe3 Bxb4 32.cxb4 Qxc1+
33.Qxc1 Rxc1+ 34.Kf2 Rc4 35.Kf3 Rxb4 36.Rxa6 g5 37.g3 gxf4 38.gxf4 Kg7
39.Ra8 Kg6 40.Ra7 1/2-1/2

D'Cunha moves into joint third

Karnataka's Antonio Viani D'cunha (ELO 1988) beat
Ritwan Sauntra (ELO 1929) of Jammu and Kashmir to
move into joint 3rd place at the end of the 7th round
of the National Subjunior Chess Championships.

D' Cunha has 5.5 points and next plays second seed
IM B. Adhiban (ELO 2422) of Tamil Nadu. Viani's teammate
G.A. Stany (ELO 2097)is in joint 10th with
5 points. FIDE Master Girish Kaushik and Belgaum's Niranjan
Navalgund are on 4.5 points after having lost their morning games.

Antonio Viani D'cunha (1988) - Ritwan Sauntra (1929)
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bc4 c6 6.Nf3 Bf5 7.0-0 e6
8.Ne5 Nbd7 9.Re1 Qc7 10.Qf3 Nb6 11.Bb3 0-0-0 12.Be3 Bg6 13.a4 Bd6
14.a5 Nbd5 15.Bg5 Bh5 16.Qh3 h6 17.Nxd5 cxd5 18.Bxf6 gxf6 19.Qxh5 fxe5
20.dxe5 Bb4 21.Re3 Bxa5 22.Rf3 Rd7 23.Ra4 Kb8 24.Raf4 Rh7 25.Ba4 b5
26.Bxb5 Qxc2 27.g3 Rc7 28.Kg2 Qxb2 29.Be8 Bc3 30.Bxf7 Bxe5 31.Bxe6
Bxf4 32.Qe8+ Kb7 33.Bxd5+ Kb6 34.Qb8+ Rb7 35.Qxf4 Kc5 36.Qc4+ Kd6
37.Qc6+ Ke5 38.Re3+ Kf5 39.Qe6+ 1-0

Girish A Koushik (2086) - Prasanna Rao (2228)
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 0-0 7.Bd3 c5 8.0-0 cxd4 9.exd4 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Bxc3 11.bxc3 b6 12.Qe2 Qc7 13.Rac1 Bb7 14.Bd3 Ng4 15.Be4 Rac8 16.c4 Bxe4 17.Qxe4 Ndf6 18.Qe2 Qb7 19.Bxf6 Nxf6 20.Ne5 Rfd8 21.Rfd1 Qa6 22.Rc3 Rd6 23.h3 Ne8 24.Qf3 f6 25.Ra3 Qxa3 26.Qxa3 fxe5 27.Qxa7 exd4 28.Qe7 Rcd8 29.Rd3 Nf6 30.Qb7 R8d7 31.Qa8+ Rd8 32.Qb7 R8d7 33.Qa8+ Rd8 34.Qa3 e5 35.c5 bxc5 36.Qxc5 e4 37.Rd1 d3 38.a4 Kh8 39.a5 Rd5 40.Qc7 R5d7 41.Qc3 Nd5 42.Qe1 Nf4 43.Qxe4 Ne2+ 0-1

Battle of the World Champions drawn

Karnataka boys continued to give their higher rated opponents a tough time in the 5th round of the National Subjunior Chess Championships being played at Mount Chess Academy, Chennai. Former World Under 12 Champion Srinath of Tamil Nadu drew the 'Battle of World Champions' with Under 10 Champ Girish Kaushik of Karnataka in the National Subjunior -

N. Srinath (2201) - Girish Koushik (2086)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Kb1 Nxd4 11.e5 Nf5 12.exf6 Bxf6 13.Nxd5 Qxd5 14.Qxd5 Nxe3 15.Qd2 Nxd1 16.Qxd1 Be6 17.Bb5 a6 18.Ba4 b5 19.Bb3 Bxb3 20.axb3 Rad8 21.Qe2 Rd6 22.Rd1 Re6 23.Qf2 Rc8 24.c3 Kg7 25.g4 h6 26.h4 g5 27.hxg5 hxg5 28.Rh1 Rd8 29.f4 gxf4 30.Qxf4 Re5 31.Rh2 Rd1+ 32.Kc2 Rde1 33.Qh6+ Kg8 34.g5 Rc1+ 35.Kd3 Rd1+ 36.Kc2 Rc1+ 37.Kd3 Rd1+ 1/2-1/2

Giantkiller Nirananjan Navalgund of Belgaum bagged the scalp of the Delhi number one Hemant Sharma in a Closed Sicilian -

Hemant Sharma (2193) - Navalgund Niranjan (2012) [B25]
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.Nge2 e6 7.0-0 Nge7 8.Bg5
0-0 9.Qd2 Nd4 10.Nc1 Rb8 11.a4 b6 12.Nd1 e5 13.c3 Ne6 14.Bh6 Bb7
15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.f4 exf4 17.gxf4 f5 18.Ne2 fxe4 19.dxe4 d5 20.e5 Ba6
21.Ne3 d4 22.Nxd4 Nxd4 23.cxd4 cxd4 24.Ng4 Bxf1 25.Rxf1 d3 26.Kh1 Qd4
27.Rf3 Qxa4 28.Rxd3 Qxf4 29.Qxf4 Rxf4 30.Nf6 Rc8 31.h3 Rf2 32.Rd7 Rc1+
33.Kh2 Rcc2 34.Rxe7+ Kf8 35.Rxa7 Rxg2+ 36.Kh1 Rgd2 37.Nxh7+ Ke8
38.Nf6+ Kd8 39.Ra1 Rxb2 40.Ng4 Rd3 41.e6 Rxh3+ 42.Kg1 Rg3+ 43.Kh1 Rb4
44.Nh2 Re4 45.Rd1+ Ke7 46.Rf1 Rxe6 47.Nf3 Re2 48.Nd4 Re4 49.Kh2 Rd3
50.Nf3 Re2+ 51.Kg1 Kd6 52.Ne1 Rd1 53.Nf3 Rxf1+ 54.Kxf1 Ra2 55.Nd4 Kc5
56.Ne6+ Kc4 57.Ng5 b5 58.Nf3 b4 59.Ne5+ Kc3 60.Nxg6 b3 0-1


Mangalore's Antonio Viani D'Cunha also had a good result when he drew highly rated
FIDE Master K. Priyadarshan of Tamil Nadu -

Priyadharshan K (2298) - Antonio Viani D'cunha (1988)
1.e4 c5 2.Na3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.c3 Bg7 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Qe2 0-0 7.0-0 d6 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 Bg4 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Qxf3 Nd7 13.Rd1 c5 14.Be3 cxd4 15.Bxd4 Bxd4 16.Rxd4 Qb6 17.Rd2 Rac8 18.Qe2 Rc6 19.Kh2 Rfc8 20.Rad1 Ne5 21.Rd4 Rc1 22.f4 Rxd1 23.Rxd1 Nd7 24.e5 Qb4 25.Qd2 Qxd2 26.Rxd2 Rc6 27.exd6 Rxd6 28.Rxd6 exd6 29.Nb5 a6 30.Nxd6 Nc5 31.Nc4 f5 32.Ne5 Kf8 33.g4 Ke7 34.gxf5 gxf5 35.Kg3 Ke6 36.Kf3 Kd5 37.Ke3 a5 38.b3 a4 39.b4 Na6 40.b5 Nb4 41.b6 Kd6 42.Nc4+ Kc6 43.Nb2 Nd5+ 44.Kd4 Nxf4 45.h4 Kxb6 46.Nxa4+ Kc6 47.Nc3 h6 48.a4 Ng6 49.h5 Nf4 50.Ke5 Nxh5 51.Kxf5 1/2-1/2

Girish leads the charge

World Under 10 Champion and FIDE Master Girish
Kaushik (ELO 2086) kept Karnataka's hopes alive
by beating P. Lokesh (ELO 2012) of Tamil Nadu and
then drawing with his statemate FM K. Priyadarshan
(ELO 2298) in the 4th and 5th rounds of the
National Subjunior Championships being conducted at
the Mount Chess Academy, Chennai. Girish next faces
another former World Champion N. Srinath (ELO 2201)
of Tamil Nadu in the 6th round.

There are three leaders with 4.5 points each. On their
hot pursuit are a bunch of others including three from
Karnataka - Girish Kaushik, G.A. Stany (ELO 2097) and
Antonio Viani D'Cunha (ELO 1988) - all with 4 points.
Niranjan Navalgund (ELO 2012) of Belgaum with 3.5 points
also has an outside chance at a top 10 finish.

Lokesh P (2012) - Girish A Koushik (2086)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Nd7 10.Nd5 Nce5 11.Bb3 Nc5 12.Bh6 e6 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.Ne3 Qh4+ 15.g3 Qf6 16.Rf1 Ned3+ 17.cxd3 Qxd4 18.Ke2 b6 19.Qc3 Qf6 20.Qxf6+ Kxf6 21.Bc4 b5 22.Bb3 a5 23.Bc2 Ba6 24.Rfc1 Rfc8 25.d4 Nd7 26.Bd3 Nb6 27.Rxc8 Rxc8 28.a4 Nxa4 29.Rxa4 bxa4 30.Bxa6 Rb8 31.Nd1 d5 32.Bd3 Rb4 33.Ke3 Ke7 34.Bc2 f5 35.exd5 exd5 36.Kd3 Kd6 37.Kc3 Rc4+ 38.Kd3 Rb4 39.h3 h5 40.g4 fxg4 41.hxg4 hxg4 42.fxg4 g5 43.Ke3 Ke6 44.Bf5+ Kd6 45.Bd3 Ke6 46.Bc2 Kd6 47.Kd3 Ke6 48.Kc3 Rc4+ 49.Kd3 Rb4 50.Nc3 Rxb2 51.Nxa4 Rb4 52.Nc3 Kd6 53.Bd1 Rb2 54.Bc2 Rb4 55.Bd1 Rb2 56.Bc2 Rb4 57.Bb1 Rb2 58.Ba2 Rg2 59.Bxd5 Rg3+ 60.Ke4 Rxc3 61.Bg8 Rc8 62.Bb3 Rf8 63.Bd1 Rf1 64.Bc2 Rf4+ 65.Ke3 Rxg4 66.Ba4 Rf4 67.Bb3 Rf8 68.Bd1 Rf6 69.Ke4 Rf1 70.Bc2 g4 71.Ke3 g3 72.Be4 Re1+ 73.Kf3 Rxe4 0-1

Girish A Koushik (2086) - Priyadharshan K (2298)
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Nc6 4.a3 d6 5.Nc3 g6 6.e4 Bg7 7.Be2 0-0 8.0-0 Re8 9.Re1 e5 10.d5 Nd4 11.Be3 Nxe2+ 12.Rxe2 Ng4 13.Bg5 f6 14.Bh4 g5 15.Bg3 h5 16.h3 Nh6 17.Ne1 h4 18.Bh2 g4 19.hxg4 Nxg4 20.Nd3 Kf7 21.f3 Nxh2 22.Kxh2 Bh6 23.Rf2 Be3 24.Re2 Bg5 25.Rf2 Be3 26.Re2 Bg5 27.Rf2 1/2-1/2

Viani D'Cunha marches on!

Karnataka's Viani D'Cunha (ELO 1988) demolished the
defences of highly rated Ramnath Bhuvanesh (ELO 2115)
to continue his fine showing in the National
Sub Junior Chess Championship being played at
the Mount Chess Academy, Chennai. Another tough
opponent in the shape of FM Prasanna Rao (ELO 2228)
awaits the Mangalore boy in the 4th round.

His statemate and World Under 10 Champion
FIDE Master Girish Kaushik (ELO 2086) was held to a draw
by Atishay Ajmera (ELO 1903) of Rajasthan. His next test
will be coming from P. Lokesh (ELO 2012) of Tamil Nadu.

Belgaum's Niranjan Navalgund (ELO 2012) who has upset the applecart
of topseeded IM S.P. Sethuraman (ELO 2427) had no answer
for National Under 11 Champion Fenil Shah (ELO 2124) of
Gujarat. He next plays Keegan Furtado (ELO 1870) of Goa.

Karnataka boys create havoc in National Subjunior!

Karnataka boys created major upsets in
the second round of the National Subjunior
Chess Championship being played at
Mount Chess Academy, Chennai.

First it was Belgaum boy Niranjan Navalgund (ELO 2012)
who upset the topseeded International Master
S.P. Sethuraman (ELO 2427) in a London System.
Sethuraman grabbed the 'h' pawn onthe 17th move and
this seemed to open up the game completely for a vicious
attack by the Belgaum lad. Niranjan made light of the 415
point ELO difference and crushed his opponent in 56 moves.

On the third board, it was Antonio Viani D' Cunha (ELO 1988)
who shocked the 4th seeded National Under 17 Champion
M.R. Lalith Babu of Andhra Pradesh. Lalith Babu, who made an
International Master norm in Kolkatta earlier this year had no
answer for the controlled aggression of the Mangalore lad in
an English Opening game and finally threw in the towel on the
62nd move.

Meanwhile, Karnataka team got another boost when FIDE Master and World Under 10 Champion Girish Kaushik (ELO 2086) of Mysore beat G. Jaswant (ELO 1872) of Tamil Nadu to set up a clash with Atishay Ajmera (ELO 1903) in the third round.


In other results, Maharashtra's IM Norm holder Aditya Udeshi
(ELO 2355) had no problem in disposing off Kaushalendra
Kumar (ELO 1993) and FIDE Master S. Nitin (ELO 2321) beat Sayantan
Das (ELO 1982) of West Bengal to notch their second consecutive points.

Nine more rounds remain in this prestigious tournament and
the top 5 players will represent India in the Under 16 Olympiad
to be played in Ankara, Turkey in August next year.

The games -

Navalgund Niranjan (2012) - Sethuraman S P (2427) [A47]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c3 b6 4.Bf4 Bb7 5.e3 d5 6.Nbd2 Be7 7.h3 0-0 8.Bd3 c5 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Qe2 Bd6 11.Ne5 Qc7 12.Ndf3 Ne4 13.Bxe4 dxe4 14.Ng5 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Be7 16.h4 h6 17.Nh3 Bxh4 18.Qh5 Be7 19.g4 Rfd8 20.Kg2 Ba6 21.Rh1 Bf8 22.Qh4 Be2 23.Ng1 Bd1 24.g5 Be7 25.Qh3 Rd2 26.gxh6 g6 27.h7+ Kh8 28.Qg3 Qd8 29.Bh6 Qd5 30.Qf4 Bf3+ 31.Nxf3 exf3+ 32.Kg3 Rd8 33.e4 Qd7 34.Qxd2 Qxd2 35.Bxd2 Rxd2 36.Rad1 Rxd1 37.Rxd1 Kxh7 38.Rd7 Bg5 39.Rxf7+ Kh6 40.Rxa7 Bc1 41.b3 Bb2 42.c4 Bxe5+ 43.Kxf3 Bc3 44.Re7 e5 45.Re6 Kh5 46.Rxb6 g5 47.Kg3 g4 48.f3 Be1+ 49.Kg2 Kg5 50.Kf1 Bh4 51.fxg4 Kf4 52.a4 Kxe4 53.Ke2 Bd8 54.Rb5 Kd4 55.a5 e4 56.a6 1-0
Lalith Babu M R (2350) - Antonio Viani D'cunha (1988) [D97]
1.Nf3 g6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Qa4+ Bd7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 Bg7 7.e4 a6 8.d4 b5 9.Qb3 0-0 10.Be2 c5 11.dxc5 Bc6 12.0-0 Nxe4 13.Nxe4 Bxe4 14.Be3 Bd5 15.Qc2 Nd7 16.Rfd1 e6 17.Rac1 Qa5 18.Qb1 Ne5 19.Nd2 Bxa2 20.Qa1 Nc6 21.Ne4 Bb3 22.Qxa5 Nxa5 23.Rd2 Bd5 24.Nc3 Nb3 25.Nxd5 exd5 26.Rcc2 Nxd2 27.Bxd2 Be5 28.Bf3 a5 29.Bxd5 Ra7 30.c6 Rc8 31.Be3 Ra6 32.Re2 Rd8 33.Rd2 Kg7 34.f4 Bc7 35.Kf1 Bb6 36.Bxb6 Rxb6 37.Rc2 Rc8 38.Ke2 Kf6 39.Kd3 Ke7 40.Kd4 Kd6 41.Bf3 a4 42.Rd2 Rbxc6 43.Bxc6 Rxc6 44.g3 Rc4+ 45.Kd3 Kc5 46.Re2 Kb4 47.Re5 Rc5 48.Re3 Rc7 49.Kd2 Ka5 50.Re5 Kb6 51.Re4 Rc4 52.Re7 b4 53.Kd3 Rc7 54.Re8 a3 55.bxa3 bxa3 56.Ra8 Ra7 57.Rb8+ Kc5 58.Rb1 a2 59.Ra1 Kb4 60.Kc2 Ka3 61.Re1 Rc7+ 62.Kd3 Kb2 0-1