National junior champ Narayanan makes Grandmaster norm

PUNE: National junior champion SL Narayanan came out with flying colours to hold higher-ranked Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi and completed his maiden GM norm after the end of ninth round of World Junior Chess Championship on Wednesday.
It turned out to be another excellent day for the Kerala-based Narayanan after a previous round loss against Wei Yi of China.
He pressed for advantage against Gujrathi and got the draw in the end that was enough to get the Grandmaster norm.
On a good day for the hosts, PV Nandhidhaa completed the formalities for her final Women International Master norm and will now be awarded the Women International Master title by FIDE, the apex chess body.
Aided by some luck from a drawn endgame in the girls' championship being organised simultaneously, Nandhidhaa defeated compatriot B Pratyusha who also made another WIM norm despite the loss. Pratyusha however needs to touch the 2200 elo rating mark before she can stake her claim for the title.
It was norms galore in the ninth round as apart from three Indians, Bai Jinshi of China also made a Grandmaster in the open section while Russian girl Daria Pustovoitova made her WIM norm in the girls' section.
In the open section, top seed Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia put it across Karen Grigoryan of Armenia to jump to joint lead on seven points along with overnight leaders Wei Yi and Lu Shanglei of China. At the top of the tables, it was a hard fought draw between the two Chinese players.
With three leaders on seven points each a pack of eight players including Aravindh Chithamabaram and Diptayan Ghosh share the fourth spot a half point behind.
Amongst the higher ranked Indians Vidit Gujrathi (5.5) now will need almost all wins if has to find himself on the podium while Sahaj Grover went out of contention with a third straight loss in the championship. The other Indian GM Ankit Rajpara however improved his chances by moving on to six points at the expense of Ege Koksal of Turkey.
In the girls' championship defending champion Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia emerged as the sole leader on 7.5 points defeating Ann Chumpitaz of Peru on the top board. The Russian girl is now followed by Sarasadat Khademalsharieh of Iran on seven points who scored over Anna Iwanow of Poland.
Five girls including Woman Grandmaster Padmini Rout remain in the hunt for top places having 6.5 points apiece. Rout made good use of her white pieces to beat Mae Frayna Janelle of Philippines.
Important results round 9 open (Indians unless specified): Wei Yi (Chn, 7) drew with Lu Shanglei (Chn, 7); Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus, 7) beat Karen Grigoryan (Arm, 6.5); Jorge Cori (Per, 6.5) drew with Diptayan Ghosh (6.5); Bai Jinshi (Chn, 6.5) drew with Mikhail Antipov (Rus, 6.5); Grigoriy Oparin (Rus, 6) drew with Prasanna Raghuram Rao (6); Kamil Dragun (Pol, 6.5) beat N Srinath (5.5); Linus Johansson (Swe, 5.5) lost to Aravindh Chithambaram (6.5); Aryan Tari (Nor, 5.5) lost to Paulo Bersamina (Phi, 6.5); Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan (6) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (5.5); Kriebel Tadeas (Cze, 6) beat Robin Van Kampen (5); Anurag Mhamal (5) lost to Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Pol, 6); Benjamin Bok (Ned, 5.5) drew with Csonka Balazs (Hun, 5.5); Ben Artzi Ido (Isr, 5) lost to Aleksandar Indjic (Srb, 6); Christopher Repka (Svk, 6) beat Vladislav Kovalev (Blr, 5); Ider Borya (Fra, 6) beat Nijat Abasov (Aze, 5); Ankit Rajpara (6) beat Ege Koksal (Tur, 5); Murali Karthikeyan (6) beat Rajdeep Sarkar (5); Parab Ritviz (5) lost to Ducarmon Quinten (Ned, 5); Irakli Beradze (Geo, 6) beat Toms Kantans (Lat, 5); Sayantan Das (6) beat Arat Ufuk Sezen (Tur, 5); Shailesh Dravid (4.5) lost to Idani Pouya (Iri, 4.5); Sahaj Grover (4.5) lost to Nr Visakh (5.5);B Kumaran (5) drew with Shardul Gagare (5); Niranjan Navalgund (5.5) beat Novak Cabarkapa (Srb, 4.5); Prince Bajaj (5) drew with Utkal Ranjan Sahoo (5); S Prasannaa (4.5) lost to Nasanjargal Urtnasan (Mgl, 5.5); Abhimanyu Puranik (5) drew with Ankit Gajwa (5).
Girls: Ann Chumpitaz (Per, 6.5) lost to Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 7.5); Anna Iwanow (Pol, 6.5) lost to Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iri, 7); Daria Pustovoitova (Rus, 6.5) beat Ioana Gelip (Rou, 6); Zhai Mo (Chn, 6.5) beat Sabina Ibrahimova (Aze, 5.5); Padmini Rout (6.5) beat Mae Frayna Janelle (Phi, 5.5); Tea Gueci (Ita, 5) lost to Meri Arabidze (Geo, 6); Michelle Catherina (Ind) drew with Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (5.5); Srija Seshadri (6) Brunello Marina (Ita, 5); Irina Petrukhina (Rus, 6) beat Vlada Sviridova (Rus, 5); P V Nandhidhaa (6) beat B Pratyusha (5); Ivana Maria Furtado (5.5) drew with Madhurima Shekhar (4.5); V Varshini (5.5) drew with Monpeurt Cyrielle (Fra, 5.5); Shweta Gole (4.5) lost to Rucha Pujari (4.5); G K Monnisha (4.5) drew with Ni Shiqun (4.5); Tarini Goyal (4) lost to R Vaishali (5); J Saranya (4) lost to P Supreetha (5); Aysa Imeeva (Rus, 5) beat Aakanksha Hagawane (4); Sakshi Chitlange (4) lost to M Mahalakshmi (4.5).