Ten-year old Nihal Sarin, the freshly crowned World-Under 10 champion, stole the limelight with a 94-move victory over higher ranked IM Jonathan Westerberg of Sweden as the LIC-sponsored World Junior Chess championship got underway here Monday.
Nihal said: "Obviously, today's match was a very tough as it lasted so many moves, but there was no tension and I enjoyed it very much."
Interestingly, it was the very first time that Nihal played against a titled player though his handling of two pieces for his opponent's rook in a Bogo Indian Defence defied his age and experience.
Collectively, it was a good day for Indians with GM Sahej Grover, GM Ankit Rajpara, IM Aravindh Chithabamram, IM Diptayan Ghosh and IM Sayantan Das, IM Shardul Gagare scoring victories over their lesser rated opponents.
Meanwhile, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, one of the title contenders and seeded fourth, got off to a flying start by quickly winning his first round match against fellow-Indian Parab Ritviz.
Top two seeds Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia and Aseed Robin Van Kampen also scored effortless victories even as favourites fumbled in the very first round which is very unusual in a Swiss League tournament of this magnitude
FM Rakesh Kumar Jena, rated 2164, created a flutter when he held higher-rated and 10th seed GM Grigoryan of Russia to a draw after 30 moves of a Sicilian Defence.
Untitled Sai Vishwesh also rose to the occasion and held 14th seed GM Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan to a draw in a Spanish Opening game which lasted 50 moves.
The biggest upset of the day was the loss of 19th seed IM Murali Karthikeyan (2499) who went down to his Tamil Nadu state-mate Siva Mahadevan.
The Girls section was a sedate affair with most of the higher rated players cruising through with victories. Padmini Rout, the highest rated Indian in fray, scored over Karolina Turkova.
Important Round One results (Indians unless specified):
Boys: Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus) bt M Chakravarthi Reddy; Jan Rindlisbacher (Sui) lost to Robin Van Kampen (Ned); Wei Yi (Chn) bt A Muthaiah; Parab Ritviz lost to Vidit Santosh Gujrathi; Cori Jorge (Per) bt Konstantinos Megalios (Gre); Pranav Shetty lost to Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Pol); Benjamin Bok (Ned) bt Erik Ronka (Fin); Utkal Ranjan Sahoo lost to Karen Grigoryan (Arm); Aleksandar Indjic (Srb) bt Samir Sen (Usa); Rakesh Kumar Jena drew with Grigoriy Oparin (Rus); Vladislav Kovalev (Blr) bt Slaven Pastar (Bih); D Yashas drew with Kamil Dragun (Pol); Lu Shanglei (Chn) bt P Iniyan; C Sai Vishwesh drew with Nijat Abasov (Aze); Mikhail AAntipov (Rus) bt Fong Yit San (Mas); Rodrigo Mendoza (Bol) lost to Idani Pouya (Iri); Ankit R. Rajpara bt Rajdeep Sarkar; Yogesh Gautam lost to Diptayan Ghosh; Murali Karthikeyan lost to Siva Mahadevan; Sammed Jaykumar Shete lost to Ulvi Bajarani (Aze); Sahaj Grover bt A Abhishek.
Girls: Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus) bt Parnali S Dharia; Karina Azimova (Rus) lost to Meri Arabidze (Geo); Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (Iri) drew with Gu Tianlu (Chn); Liu Manli Chn (Chn) lost to Daria Pustovoitova A(Rus); Zhai Mo (Chn) bt Marie Antoinette San Diego (Phi); Karolina Turkova (Svk) lost to Padmini Rout; Ni Shiqun (Chn) drew with P Bala Kannamma; Angelina Fransson (Swe) lost to Nguyen Thi Mai Hung (Vie); Lisa Schut (Ned) lost to Madhurima Shekhar; Ani Krumova (Bul) drew with Anna Iwanow (Pol); Marina Brunello (Ita) bt Solenn Afraoui (Fra); Mitzy Mishe Caballero Quijano (Per) lost to Sabina Ibrahimova (Aze); Klara Varga (Hun) bt Rutuja Bakshi; Larissa Ichimura Barbosa (Bra) lost to Irina Petrukhina (Rus); Sarvinoz Kurbonboeva (Uzb) drew with Jessica Bengtsson (Swe).
