Sahajasri, Harika, Ivana win world titles

Chennai, Oct 28 (UNI) Following up the triumphs of Girish and Mohineesh in the under-10 and under- 8 age groups, India ended up bagging her richest haul of medals in the history of the World Youth Chess Championship winning five titles (Gold), two Silver and three Bronze medals at Batumi in Georgia today.

According to All India Chess Federation (AICF) press release here India surpassed the previous best of two titles and three medals achieved in 2000. The girls did better with three of them being crowned world champions, including Ivana Furtado of Goa -Girls Under-8, Ch Sahajasri of Andhra Pradesh-Girls under-10 and Dronavalli Harika also of Andhra Pradesh-Girls Under-18.

In an all Indian clash, Ivana Furtado of Goa won the under-8 title on tie-break after she pushed Mannepalli Navyavyshnavi of Andhra Pradesh to second place on tie-break. Both won and scored 8.5/11. Tamil Nadu's M Mahalakshmi won the Bronze on eight points.

Indian dominance was clear in the World Girls under-8 section with the players winning the Gold, Silver and Bronze. Six Indians finished in the top eight places.

Dronavalli Harika of Guntur won the Girls under-18 title when she downed Atousha Pourkashiyan of Iran with Black pieces in 65 long moves. She had won the World under-14 title in 2004. She finished on with nine out of 11 points ahead of Nargis Umudova (Azerbijan) with 8.5 points. Mary Ann Gomes of Kolkata won the Bronze medal with 7.5 points.

Ch Sahajasri required a draw for the Girls under-10 title and she got it to reach nine points. However, Sai Nirupama who needed a victory for the silver medal lost and bowed out to finish sixth.

Girish Koushik who had won the World Under-10 title with a round to spare played a draw with Shiven Khosla to finish on 9.5/11.

Irakli Beradze (8.5) of Georgia won the Silver beating top seeded K.Vijaya Kanth.

National under-9 champion G V Sai Krishna of Vijayawada won the Bronze on eight points. Except the second place, the top eight places went to Indians.

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