Ivana breaks record for the youngest World Champion

Indians make history, win 10 medals

NEW DELHI: Indians made history at the World youth chess championship by winning 10 medals, including five golds, at Batumi, Georgia, on Saturday.

After Ch. Mohineesh (under-8) and Girish Koushik (under-10) had ensured gold medals with a round to spare on Friday, Goan girl Ivana Furtado led an Indian sweep of the top-four spots in the girls' under-8 section.

Ivana's distinction

The Panaji-born Ivana also entered the record books by becoming the youngest Indian World champion in any sport. By being the best in the world at seven years and 226 days, Ivana broke the record of Sahaj Grover. Last July, the Delhi boy had replaced P. Hari Krishna as the record-holder.

Ch. Sahajasri won the girls' under-10 title while D. Harika beat the field in the girls' under-18 section.

Prince Bajaj (under-8) and M. Navyavyshnavi (girls' under-8) claimed silver medals while G.V. Sai Krishna (under-10), M. Mahalakshmi (girls' under-8) and Mary Ann Gomes (girls' under-18) won bronze medals.

Indians' standing: Open: U-8: 1. Ch. Mohineesh (10 points); 2. Prince Bajaj (9); 14. M. Satvik (7); 15. B. Kumaran (7); 16. Soumya Sharma (6.5); 18-20. Bharat Roshik, Harsha Vardhan Reddy and Neela Lohit (6.5 each).

U-10: 1. Girish Koushik (9.5); 3-5. G.V. Sai Krishna, R. Eswar and Abhilash Reddy (8 each); 6-8. Vijaya Kanth, Y.V.K. Chakravarthy and Shiven Khosla (7.5 each); 12. Sayantan Das (7); 17. Kharma Pandya (7); 27. Mugil Jayavel (6.5), 34. Vigram (6); 57. Sudarshan Surya (5), 61. Varman Vasantha (5).

U-12: 5. N. Srinath (8); 10-11. Fenil Shah and V.A.V. Rajesh (7 each); 13. L. Sri Harsha (7); 16-17. Vidit Gujarathi and Prasanna Rao (7 each); 22. Sahaj Grover (6.5); 28. Harsh Karnati (6.5); 29. Adith Jagadish (6); 39. Vishwanath Prasad (5.5); 48. Harihara Sudan (5.5); 73. Antonio Furtado (4.5); 76. K.S. Anand Reddy (4); 90. Suresh Nani (2.5).

U-14: 5. B. Adhiban (8); 22. K. Priyadarshan (6.6); 29. Y. Sandeep (6); 35. S. Nitin (6). U-16: 10. Aswin Jayaram (7); 13. S.P. Sethuraman (7); 27. D. Sai Srinivas (5.5). U-18: 12. G. Rohit (6.5); 19. S. Arun Prasad (6).

Girls: U-8: 1-2. Ivana Furtado and M. Navyavyshnavi (8.5 each); 3-4. M. Mahalakshmi and Sweety Patel (8 each); 7-8. U. Ashwini and Shoumi Mukherjee (7 each); 17. Shreya M. Gomini (6).

U-10: 1. Ch. Sahajasri; 6. K. Sai Nirupama (7.5); 9. B. Pratyusha (7.5); 23. K. Deepika (6); 27. Nishtha Gupta (6); 32; Uma Bharathi (5.5); 39. M. Priyadarshini (5); 46. G. Aiswarya (4.5).

U-12: 4. Padmini Rout (8); 17. J. Mohana Priya(6.5); 43. G. Sirisha (5). U-14: 5. Pon N. Krithika (7.5); 8. Bhakti Kulkarni (7); P. Lakshmi Sahiti (6.5); 20. Devangi Patankar (6); 24. Pallabi Roy (5.5). U-16: 14. I. Ramya Krishna (6.5); 22. Dhyani Dave (6); 28. P. Uthra (5.5); 53. V. Priyadarshiini (4). U-18: 1. D. Harika (9); 3. Mary Ann Gomes (7.5).

Medals tally (read Gold-Silver-Bronze-Total): India 5-2-3-10; Georgia 2-2-2-6; Azerbaijan 1-3-1-5; Poland 2-1-0-3; Ukraine 0-3-0-3; Armenia 1-1-0-2; China 0-0-2-2; Germany 1-0-0-1; (Egypt, Israel, Moldova and Vietnam won a bronze each).