Is Chess a Viable Career? Don't Romanticise the Prize Money: Rout

An honest answer to the one question that no one truly tackles in the Indian chess world. Finally, Padmini Rout says it as clear as possible. Here's a must-watch video based on her points of 

- Trajectory beyond rating

- Foundation for finances beyond desperation 

- Hard Work and genuine love for chess beyond the glory

- Can chess ever be wasted

Caption: (R) Asian Women's Champion International Master Padmini Rout's screen grab from Youtube video.  

 

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World Junior Chess Round 11: Padmini Rout beats Leader in Exciting Show

Kocaeli (Turkey): Women's Grandmaster Padmini Rout caused a major flutter by defeating tournament leader Irina Bulmaga of Romania in the 11th round of World Junior Girls' chess championship on Wednesday.

Playing black, Padmini was at her best in tackling Bulmaga who went hay wire in the middle game and lost a pawn. With perfect technique, Padmini picked up another pawn and then a rook for a knight, leading to a won position.

The shocker meant changes in the rankings as Aleksandra Goryashkina of Russia emerged as the sole leader here with 8.5 points out of a possible 11.

Padmini with this victory jumped to 7.5 points and she now shares the fourth spot with two rounds still to come.

In the open section being organised simultaneously, S P Sethurman continued with his fine form and defeated Nasanjargal Urtnasan of Mongolia. Sethuraman took his tally to eight points in all along with compatriot Vidit Gujrathi who too had a good day against Debashish Das.

Yu Yangyi of China regained sole lead defeating Andrey Stukopin of Russia on a day when defending champion Alexander Ipatov of Turkey was held to a draw Samvel Ter-Sahakyan of Armenia. Ipatov again slipped to the second spot on nine points, a half point ahead of Jorge Cori of Peru.

The Indian duo of Sethurman and Gujrathi are now joint fourth on eight points and need to do well in the last two rounds to be in with a chance for a podium finish.

Among other Indians, Grandmaster Sahaj Grover bounced back with a victory over Fang Yan of China, while N Srinath defeated Mykola Bortnyk of Ukraine.

Sethuraman had an easy day out of a Nimzo Indian defense as black. Winning a pawn in the endgame, Sethuraman was precise in his calculations and his two passed pawns proved much faster than Urtnasan's.

Gujrathi also won with black pieces. Debashish Das had a level position in the middle game but missed the thread as the game progressed. Gujrathi's technique was perfect to get a full point.

Sahaj Grover sacrificed a piece in the endgame when the position looked absolutely drawn. It was a good comeback for Grover after losing to Chinese Wei Yei in the previous round. -- PTI

Important and Indian results round 11 open (Indians unless stated): Alexander Ipatov (Tur, 9) drew with Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (Arm, 8); Yu Yangyi (Chn, 9.5) beat Andrey Stukopin (Rus, 7.5); Urii Eliseev (Rus, 7) lost to Jorge Cori (Per, 8.5); Debashis Das (7) lost to Vidit Gujrathi (8); Nasanjargal Urtnasan (Mgl, 7) lost to S P Sethuraman (8); Wei Yi (Chn, 8) beat Marcel Kanarek (Pol, 7); Fang Yan (Chn, 6.5) lost to Sahaj Grover (7.5); N Srinath (7) beat Mykola Bortnyk (Ukr, 6); S L Narayanan (6) beat Barros Rivadeneira Cristhian (Ecu, 5); Rakesh Kulkarni (5) beat Zhanbai Uulu Zhokhar (Kgz, 4); Assad Mamyrbay (5) beat Sameer Kathmale (4).

Girls: Irina Bulmaga (Rou, 8) lost to Padmini Rout (7.5); Deysi Cori (Per, 7.5) lost to Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 8.5); Arabidze Meri (Geo, 7.5) drew with Aulia Medina Warda (Ina, 7.5); Mitra Hejazipour (Iri, 7) drew with Alina Kashlinskaya (Rus, 7.5); Abdumalik Zhansaya (Kaz, 8) beat Sabina Ibrahimova (Aze, 6.5); Ivana Maria Furtado (6) lost to Ekaterini Pavlidou (Gre, 7); J Saranya (5.5) lost to Maria Bezgodova (Rus, 6.5); Ayelen Martinez (Arg, 6) drew with Rucha Pujari (6); Lena Miladinovic (Srb, 5) lost to G K Monnisha (6); Caterina Leonardi (Slo, 4.5) lost to Riya Savant (5.5); Anjana Krishna (5) beat Firat Deniz (Tur, 4).

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World Team: Soumya, Gomes win Bronze

The Champions Ukraine: (From left) Mariya Muzychuk, Inna Gaponenko, Anna Ushenina, Kateryna Lahno, Natalia Zhukova.

India finished fifth in the world women’s team chess championship at Astana, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday. Seeded sixth in the 10-team event, India scored nine match points from nine rounds. Ukraine, comprising Anna Ushenina, Kateryno Lahno, Mariya Muzychuk, Inna Gaponenko and Natalia Zhukova, won the title with 16 points. China finished runner-up, while Russia was third with 13. Reigning women's world chess champion Anna Ushenina now also holds the title of the World Team Champion along with her compatriots.

(Top right) Mary Ann Gomes and (below left) Soumya Swaminathan with their Bronze medals for Boards 4 and 5 at the Astana Women's World Team Chess Championship 2013. Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich.

India, represented by Mary Ann Gomes, Eesha Karvade, Nisha Mohota, Padmini Rout and Soumya Swaminathan, lost to China 1.5-2.5 in the final round. In the other matches, Russia and Ukraine drew 2-2, France blanked Turkey 3.5-0.5, Georgia beat Kazakhstan 2.5-1.5 and United States and Romania drew 2-2.

For the individual boards, Mary Ann Gomes and Soumya Swaminathan won the Bronze medals on Board 4 and Board 5 respectively.

Final Standings
1. Ukraine 16 2. China 15 3. Russia 13 4. Georgia 12 5. India 9 6. USA 8 7. Kazakhstan 6 8. Romania 6 9. France 4 10. Turkey 1

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Indian Girls Begin Campaign at Women's World Team Chess in Astana Today

The Indian team (from left) Soumya Swaminathan, Padmini Rout, Nisha Mohota, Eesha Karavade, Mary Ann Gomes. 

The opening ceremony of the Women's World Team Chess Championship took place at the Duman Hotel in Astana, Kazakhstan on Saturday after a press conference. FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov welcomed all participants and guests and awarded diplomas to players from the team of Kazakhstan - Guliskhan Nakhbayeva and Dinara Saduakassova. Both had recently complete their WGM norms.

The Chief Arbiter of the tournament Takis Nikolopoulos conducted the ceremony of drawing of lots. Each team was invited to the stage and the top player was proposed to choose a flower with the number. The top seed of Ukrainian team Katerina Lahno luckily chose the number one, although Ukrainian team doesn’t leave the first rank. Each of the players got flowers from the organizers. Opening Ceremony Photo Gallery

Indian chess fans can watch the games live from 2.30 pm at the official wesbite with comments by GM Sergey Shipov and WGM Anna Sharevich: http://worldchess.kz/en/online.

The pairings of the first round:Ukraine - India
Romania - Russia
Kazakhstan - USA
Turkey - Georgia
China - France

The board pairings of Round 1 for India are as follows:

Lahno, Kateryna - Karavade, Eesha
Ushenina, Anna - Mohota, Nisha
Muzychuk, Mariya - Padmini, Rout
Gaponenko, Inna - Gomes, Mary Ann

During the press-conference it was announced that Kazakhstan has another ambitious plan - to host the World Chess Olympiad in 2018. Anna Ushenina, reigning women's world champion, spoke about the expectations of the Ukrainian team: “Every team wants to win first place in Astana. Our team - is not an exception. I will try to show the best result. In such tournaments there are no weak opponents.” 

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India's Abhijeet Gupta Wins Philadelphia International Chess; M Venkatesh is India's 28th GM (Video Link Updated)

Chess Video link

GM Abhijeet Gupta

Indian National chess champion GM Abhijeet Gupta has won the Philadelphia Chess Open and $2000 with a clear first ahead of Indian mate IM Marani Venkatesh. IM Venkatesh earned his GM title!

Gupta won his final round game against IM Dean Ippolito for the title. Meanwhile, both IM Marani Venkatesh and WGM Padmini Rout, earned their GM norm and IM norms respectively. There were several other Indians in the line-up who did fairly well. GM SP Sethuraman was fourth, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy was tenth, WGM Eesha Karvade was 16th and Rout was 17th. The opposition Rout faced was strong enough for the norm for her. 

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