Till Sunday afternoon, Lu Shanglei was best remembered for stunning Magnus Carlsen in the World blitz chess championship in June this year. But in the 13th round of the LIC World junior championship here, the 19-year-old Chinese came out of the shadows of compatriot Wei Yi to claim the title that is likely to rekindle his fast-diminishing interest in chess.
Beginning the final day as part of the four-player leaders’ group, 13th seed Shanglei defeated Serbia’s Aleksandar Indjic in 31 moves to emerge as champion with 10 points.
In the girls section, where Aleksandra Goryachkina retained the title with a round to spare, Padmini Rout won her final round but eventually finished fourth
Had Srija Seshadari upstaged third seed Sarasadat or Sarvinoz Kurbonboeva defeated Chumpitaz, Padmini could have won the bronze due to her superior tie-break score among those at nine points.
The winners, in both sections, received Rs. 1.50 lakh each, runners-up Rs. one lakh and the third-placed, Rs. 50,000.
Leading 13th round results (Indians unless stated):
Open: Wei Yi (Chn, 9.5) drew with Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 9.5); Kamil Dragun (Pol, 9) drew with Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus, 9.5); Aleksandar Indjic (Srb, 8) lost to Lu Shanglei (Chn, 10); Vidit Gujrathi (9) bt Quinten Ducarmon (Ned, 8); Jorge Cori (Per, 8) lost to Murali Karthikeyan (9); Grigoriy Oparin (Rus, 8) lost to N. Srinath (9); Bai Jinshi (Chn, 8.5) drew with Diptayan Ghosh (8.5); Benjamin Bok (Ned, 8.5) bt Aryan Tari (Nor, 7.5); Robin van Kampen (Ned, 8.5) bt Aravindh Chithambaram (7.5); Prasanna Rao (8) drew with Karen Grigoryan (Arm, 8).
Girls: Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 11) drew with Anna Iwanow (Pol, 8.5); Ann Chumpitaz (Per, 9.5) drew with Sarvinoz Kurbonboeva (Uzb, 8.5); Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iri, 9.5) bt Srija Seshadri (8); Padmini Rout (9) bt Marina Brunello (Ita, 8); Daria Pustovoitova (Rus, 7.5) lost to Meri Arabidze (Geo, 8.5); Irina Petrukhina (Rus, 7.5) lost to Zhao Mo (Chn, 8.5).
Ivana Furtado (7.5) lost to Sabina Ibrahimova (Aze, 8.5); Ni Shiqun (Chn, 8) bt M. Mahalakshmi (7.5); Gu Tianlu (Chn, 7.5) drew with Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (Vie, 7.5); P.V. Nandhidhaa (7) lost to Maria Gevorgyan (Arm, 8); G.K. Monnisha (7) lost to Ioana Gelip (Rou, 8).
Top-10 standings: Open: 1. Lu Shanglei, 2-4. Wei Yi, Fedoseev, Duda, 5-8. Vidit, Dragun, Srinath, Karthikeyan, 9-10. Diptayan, Bai Jinshi. Girls: 1. Goryachkina, 2-3. Sarasadat, Chumpitaz; 4. Padmini, 5-9. Zhoa Mo, Iwanow, Ibrahimova, Arabidze, Kurbonboeva, 10. Srija.
