Chess (#1128)

The Indian Under-16 squad registered a fantastic result, winning gold at the Junior Olympiad in Gyor, Hungary. The Indians won nine matches and lost one to Russia. This pulled the team clear of Russia (+8,=1.-1) and Iran (+8,-2), which took silver and bronze respectively.

To add to the joy, the prodigious duo of Aravindh Chithambaram and Murali Karthikeyan both completed grandmaster titles with performances that took them past the statutory Elo 2500-mark. Both 15-year-olds have long since registered the necessary GM norms.

There were 54 nations (many fielded multiple teams) at Gyor. Every team fielded one female member though many took a girl along only as reserve (G.K. Monisha played 3 games for the Indians). India relied on IM Diptayan Ghosh (5.5/9) to hold down top board with Karthikeyan (8/10) and Chithambaram (8/9) on Bd 2 and Bd 3 with Balaji Kumaran (4.5/9) and Monisha (0.5/3) on Bd 4.

In the last round, India rapidly beat Turkey 3-1, and Russia quickly beat Ukraine 3.5-0.5. But Iran vs Hungary went down to the wire. Iran could have taken gold with a win, or silver with a draw. In the end, the hosts won 2.5-1.5 and Iran took bronze. Even that is great for a mixed team from a nation where gender-segregation is enforced, and where chess was banned before Khomeini declared that playing chess was not haram, so long as it did not interfere with daily prayers, or promote gambling.

India's gold at Gyor follows on the heels of the historic bronze at Tromso in the Olympiad. In the individual stakes, there were also multiple Indian medallists at the last age group world championships in South Africa. At the apex of the pyramid, Viswanathan Anand has also recovered some form with three big tournament wins, despite a loss in the world title match.

In fact, if this year's results are totted up, the power axis in chess seems to be tilting towards Asia. China won the Olympiad, India came third, and Iran also scored at U-16 levels. There are strong players out of Vietnam and The Philippines, among other places, and of course, all republics of former Soviet Central Asia have strong chess cultures (though some compete as European nations).

THE DIAGRAM, WHITE TO PLAY (White: Karthikeyan Vs Black: Ali Marandi,Cemil Can, India Vs Turkey, World Youth Olympiad 2014) is from the last round. White finds an elegant way to attack, using the c-file and the dark squares. He played 27.Nbd4! a6 The B protects e8 - a key line is 27...Bxd3? 28.Qf6 Nf5 29.Rc8!! Qxf6 30. Rxe8+ The game concluded 28.g4 Nc8 29.Ng5 Qe7 30.Rc7! Qf8 (Or else 30. - Qxc7 31. Qf6) 31.Rxf7 Qxh6 32.Rxh7 Rf8 33.Qe3 (1-0).

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player