| The Opening Ceremony of the XIV
National Children Chess Championship was organised in a unique manner.
A Chess King made up of thermocol was made to fly up in the sky with the
help of Gas Balloons ! All eyes laid on the King which went high
up in the sky and the players , parents and the spectators were at a delight.
Around 285 players from all over the country
are participating in this Championship. There are around 112 players
in U-9 Boys , 54 Players in the U-9 Girls , 78 players in the U-7
Boys and 41 players in the U-7 Girls category. Such a response definately
shows that Chess is becoming one of the most popular sport in the Country.
The first round started with a string of upsets
in the U-9 Boys and U-7 Girls categories. Top Seed of both the categories
suffered setbacks . C. G. Krishna (A.P.) was defeated by Swayams Mishra
(ORI) in the U-9 Boys while R.Visalakshi (T.Nagar) shocked Pallabi Roy
(W.B.) in the U-7 Girls.
S. Mishra countered C.G.Krishna's Caro-Kann
defence with the exchange variation to dispatch him in just 27 moves .
It was a similar affair in the U-7 Girls where R.Visalkashi also made a
shortwork of Pallabi Roy in 28 moves of the English Opening.
In the U-9 Girls , Top Seed D.Meenu (A.P.)
employed the King's Indian Defence to win comfortably against 28th seed
A. Sitha Latchum . On the Second board , second seed I. Krishna played
the Reti Opening to pocket the game in 30 moves against Divya Khare
(Delhi) . Divya blundered a pawn on the 9th move. While on the third board
Priya Ratnam (Bih) won against Vishwa Talsania (Guj) in 40 moves of the
Bishop's Opening.
In the U-7 Boys , Kumar Gaurav was in good
form as he won quickly against S. Majumdar (W.B.) in 30 moves of
the Sicilian Defence. Kumar won an exchange on the 26th move. On
the second board , P. Negi (Delhi) won against P. Raghuram (Mah) in 50
moves of the Bishop's opening. While on the third board , S. Teja (A.P.)
pounced on Omkar Sanjay's 12th move Bf6 which was a big mistake to
pocket the point in 35 moves.
With still eight rounds to go , there are no
Hot Favourites so far . However we can expect some leaders emerging at
the end of 5th or 6th rounds. |
