Asian Junior Chess: Srinath, Ivana win Gold, Pujari wins Bronze

Indian chess is showing the way to the world. N Srinath of India, Ivana Furtado and Rucha Pujari of India have won top honours at the Asian Junior Chess Championship in Tashkent. N Srinath won the gold in the open category and his first Grandmaster norm. Uzbekistan’s Nikita Khoroshev was second and Kazakhstan’s Ayan Akhmetov was third.

The prize-winners at the Asian Junior Chess in Tashkent.

Also, Ivana Maria Furtado won the gold in the girl’s section with Rucha Pujari picking up the bronze. Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnam got the silver. Phung and Pujari were tied for second but the former won the silver on the basis of tiebreak points. Ivana has earlier won the World under-8 twice over. Ivana earned her WGM norm from the event. Pujari has recently won the women’s tournament in Sangli, India.Srinath won the event in the penultimate round itself. He has earlier won the under-12 world championship in Belfort in 2005. Srinath had been runner-up at the Asian Junior Chess in 2011 when, in Sri Lanka, another Indian Shyam Sundar had won the title.

Final placings:

Open: 1 IM N. Srinath 8/9; 2 FM Nikita Khoroshev (Uzb) 7; 3 Avan Akhmetov (Kaz) 6.5; 4 FM Aravindh Chithambaram 6; 6 Ankit Rajpara 5.5; 8 IM Swayams Mishra 5.5…31 players.

Girls: 1 WFM Ivana Furtado 7.5/9; 2-3. WIM Vo Thi Kim Phung (Vie), WFM Rucha Pujari 6.5 each; 5 WFM J. Saranya 6; 6 P.V. Nandhidhaa 5.5; 7 WFM R. Bharathi 5; 13 WIM Pon N. Krithika 4.5; 14 CM Bhakti Kulkarni 4.5…23 players.