Narayanan shocks Dragun in World junior chess

S.L. Narayanan, the teenager from Kerala, upset higher rated Polish GM Kamil Dragun to bring cheer to the Indian camp in the fourth round of the World Junior Chess Championship here Thursday.

Narayanan, Wei and Kovalev were trailing half a point behind the leader even as other games were in progress.

In the girls section, Padmini Rout defeated Mona Khaled of Egypt and again joined overnight sole leader Daria Pustovoitova with 3.5 points.

The top board game between Pustovoitova and her Russian compatriot Aleksandra Goryachkina in a Slav defence ended in a draw after 38 moves while Maria Ivana Furtado, playing with Black pieces, held higher rated IM Meri Arabidze to a draw after 35 moves and trailed the leaders by half-a-point.

In the Open section, Cori Jorge of Peru with four points from as many rounds, shot into sole lead with a victory over Idani Pouya of Iran even as the encounter between other overnight joint leaders Vladislav Kovalev of Belarus and Wei Yi of China ended in a deadlock.

In a Queen's Gambit Declined game, Narayanan was better in the Opening stages, but lost way mid-way against Dragun.

"Then, I desperately had to try and create complications on the board or risk a loss. Fortunately for me, Kamil misplayed and once my knight broke through in the centre, the road to victory was clear," said Narayanan, who pocketed the point after 47 moves.

Meanwhile, Indian hope Vidit Santosh Gujrathi conceded another half a point to Chinese GM Lu Shanglei and has tallied three points.

Ten-year-old Nihal Sarin, who created waves in the first three rounds of this tournament, was defeated by Shardul Gagare.

The Queen's Gambit game between Vidit wielding Whites and Lu Shanglei was entirely focussed on the Queen-side and one witnessed a fast and furious exchange of pieces and pawns from the 14th to the 28th turn.

It was hardly surprising therefore when the players shook hands on the 31st move when each had a knight and four pawns each.

The pawns on the queen side were totally polished off in the game which lasted a little more than an hour. WGM Swati Ghate commenting on the game quipped: "I can come up with the explanation that it is a long and tiring 13 round event and therefore the players may have opted for some extra rest period."

Important results (Indians unless specified):

Open: Vladislav Kovalev (Blr) 3.5 drew Wei Yi (Chn) 3.5; Pouya Idani (Iri) 3 lost to Cori Jorge (Per) 4; Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 3 drew Lu Shanglei (Chn) 3; Karen Grigoryan (Arm) 3.5 bt Aravindh Chithambaram 2.5; Kamil Dragun (Pol) 2.5 lost to S.L. Narayanan 3.5; Ufuk Arat (Tur) 2.5 lost to Mikhail Antipov (Rus) 3.5; Gabriel Grigoriy (Sui) 3 drew Ankit Rajpara 3; Ganesh R. 3 drew Sahej Grover 3; Robin Van Kampen (Ned) 3 bt Prince Bajaj 2; Shardul Gagare 3 bt Nihal Sarin 2.

Girls: Daria Pustovoitova (Rus) 3.5 drew Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus) 3; Meri Arabidze (Geo) 3 drew Ivana Maria Furtado 3; Padmini Rout 3.5 bt Mona Khaled (Egy) 2.5; Ann Chunpitaz (Per) 3.5 bt Sakshi Chitalange 2.5; J. Saranya 2.5 drew Marina Brunello (Ita) 2.5; Sabina Ibrahimova (Aze) 3 bt Srija Seshadri 2; Aakanksha Hagawane 2 lost to Ioana Gelip (Rou) 3.