Chess: Mhamal shocks van Kampen

Goa-based Anurag Mhamal defeated second seed Robin Van Kampen of Netherland in the dying stages of the game in the LIC World Junior Chess championship here Sunday.

Battling in a minus position against the Sicilian defence, Anurag was delighted when Kampen, in severe time trouble, blundered and resigned on the 47th move when his bishop got trapped.

Meanwhile, S.L. Narayanan, hailing from Kerala, has undoubtedly been the most impressive Indian face in the championship which has reached the halfway stage. In the seventh round, Narayanan (2420) drew with GM Lu Shanglei (2533) of China.

Jorge Cori of Peru shot into sole lead with six points after defeating Mikhail Antipov of Russia while Lu, Narayanan, Wei Yi of China and Karen Grigoryan of Armenia trailed in second place with 5.5 points each.

In the Girls section, Padmini Rout, Aleksandra Goryachkina and Daria Pustovoitova of Russia, Ann Chumpitaz of Peru and Anna Iwanow of Poland are jointly leading with 5.5 points each.

In a tough contest between overnight joint leaders, Padmini and Daria ended with the honours shared after a hard fought 68 moves where the Indian was always on the troubled, defending side.

Top seed and defending champion Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated compatriot Mae Frayna Janelle to total 5.5 points. Ivana Maria Furtado of India defeated Monisha Gk and has scored five points.

Monday is a rest day for the event and the eighth round will be played Tuesday.

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, the highest rated player in fray, had to settle for another draw with Irakli Beradze of Georgia and with just four points in his kitty, he needs to score heavily in the remaining rounds Ato be in contention for a medal.

Important results (Indians unless specified):

Open: Jorge Cori (Per) 6 Bt Mikhail Antiipov (Rus) 5; SL Narayanan 5.5Adrew Lu Shanglei (Chn) 5.5; Grigoriy Oparin (Rus) 5 drew Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus) 5; Aryan Tari (Nor) 4.5 lost to Wei Yi (Chn) 5.5; ABenjamin Bok (Ned) 5 btA Ulvi Bajarani (Aze) 5; Sahaj Grover 4.5 lost to Karen Grigoryan (Arm) 5.5; Vladislav Kovalev (Blr) 4.5 drew Bai Jinshi (Chn) 4.5; Anurag Mhamal 5 btA Robin Van Kampen (Ned) 4; Tadeas Kriebel (Cze) 5 bt Duda Jan Krzysztof (Pol) 4; AHarsha Bharathkoti 4 lost to Diptayan Ghosh 5.

Girls: Padmini Rout 5.5 drew Daria Pustovoitova (Rus) 5.5; Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus) 5.5 bt Mae Frayna Janelle (Rus) 4.5; Nandhshaa PV 5 drew Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iri) 5; Ann Chumpitaz (Per) 5.5 bt Mo Zhai (Chn) 4.5; Anna Iwanow 5.5 bt (Pol) Sabina Ibrahimova (Aze) 4.5; Rucha Pujari 4.5 drew Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (Vie) 4.5; Marina Brunello (Ita) 5 bt Pratyusha Bodda 4; Srija Seshadri 4.5 drew Irina Petrukhina (Rus) 4.5; Maria Ivana Furtado 5 bt Monisha GK 5.