Sahaj Grover finishes 16th at World Junior Chess Championship

Athens (Greece): India`s Sahaj Grover, who achieved his final Grandmaster norm at the World Junior Chess Championship, ended his campaign at the 16th spot after losing his final-round game in the event here.

The 16-year-old Indian lost to Aleksandar Indjic of Serbia. The huge consolation that Grover could draw from the event was his final Grandmaster norm and he is set to become India`s next GM after the FIDE meeting slated for early September. Grover tallied eight points in all at the event. International Master P Shyam Nikil and M Shyam Sundar finished well with victories in the last round and also tallied eight points. Sundar finished 26th while Nikil ended on 29th place. Among other Indians in the fray, Debashish Das, Diptayan Ghosh, Aravindh Chithambaram and Nishant Malhotra ended on the losing side in the final round while Anwesh Upadhyaya won. For Das, it was a disappointing show after the Grandmaster norm that he made in the first nine rounds as he lost the last four matches. Bhakti Kulkarni remained the best Indian in the girls` championship by defeating Lisa Schut of Holland in the final round. Bhakti performed impressively for her 11th place finish on eight points in all. Grandmaster Alexander Ipatov of Turkey won the Championship after drawing with Aleksandr Shimanov of Russia in the 13th and final round here. Having the best tie break, Ipatov kept a close vigil on the top board and when top seed Ding Liren of China signed peace with Richard Rapport of Hungary the Turkish GM had no intentions of continuing even a winning position against Shimanov. Both Ipatov and Rapport finished on ten points out of a possible 13 but Ipatov won the gold while Rapport had to be content with the Silver medal. Ding Liren of China tallied 9.5 points and duly won the Bronze medal with better tiebreak than Nils Grandelius of Sweden. In the Girls` championship Guo Qi of China won the Gold medal after drawing with Indonesian girl Aulia Medina Warda. After a dramatic turn of events in this section, it was a four-way tie at the top on 9.5 points I which Guo Qi had the best tiebreak. The silver here went to Nastassia Ziaziulkina of Belarus while Anastasia Bodnaruk of Russia won the Bronze medal. Important and Indian results final round open (Indians unless specified): Ding Liren (Chn, 9.5) drew with Richard Rapport (Hun, 10); Alexander Ipatov (Tur, 10) drew with Aleksandr Shimanov (Rus, 8.5); Yaroslav Zherebukh (Ukr, 9) beat Ter-Sahakyan Samvel (Arm, 9); Nils Grandelius (Swe, 9.5) beat Wei Yi (Chn, 8.5); Robin Van Kampen (Ned, 8.5) drew with Yu Yangyi (Chn, 9); Jorge Cori (Per, 8) lost to Niclas Huschenbeth (Ger, 9); Aleksandar Indjic (Srb, 9) beat Sahaj Grover (8); M Shyam Sundar (8) beat Zhou Yang-Fan (Aus, 7); P Shyam Nikil (8) beat Aman Hambleton (Can, 7); Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 8) beat Diptayan Ghosh (7); Aravindh Chithambaram (6.5) lost to Oliver Mihok (Hun, 7.5); Debashis Das (6.5) lost to Andres Jairo Hernandez Sanchez (Col, 7.5); Shiyam Thavandiran (Can, 6) lost to Anwesh Upadhyaya (7); Andrew Brown (Aus, 6.5) beat Nishant Malhotra (5.5). Girls: Guo Qi (Chn, 9.5) Abdulla Khayala (Aze, 8.5); Aulia Medina Warda (Ina, 9.5) beat Irina Bulmaga (Rou, 8.5); Sabina Ibrahimova (Aze, 7.5) lost to Anastasia Bodnaruk (Rus, 9.5); Deysi Cori (Per, 8.5) lost to Wang Jue (Chn, 8.5); Nastassia Ziaziulkina (Blr, 9.5) beat Klaudia Kulon (Pol, 7.5); Klara Varga (Hun, 7.5) lost to Meri Arabidze (Geo, 9); Jovana Vojinovic (Mne, 7.5) lost to Monica Sihite Chelsie (Ina, 8.5); Lisa Schut (Ned, 7) lost to Bhakti Kulkarni (8); Nani Unapkoshvili (Geo, 7) drew with Ivana Maria Furtado (7); Natasa Bucar (Slo, 5.5) lost to Pon N Krithika (6.5). PTI