World Juniors Chess Championship (Girls)

The official website reported the following norms were earned by the players: GM Norm: Hou Yifan CHN 2661 (Hou Yifan earned her first GM norm at Aeroflot earlier this year, so this is norm #2, not norm #3 as I believe I reported in an earlier post) WGM Norm: Kübra Öztürk TUR 2413 (Ozturk's first WGM norm, and the first ever earned by a Turkish female chess player according to official site) Miranda Mikadze GEO 2410 WIM Norm: Preethi Rajkumar IND 2277 Sarah Hoolt GER 2283 Khayala Isgandarova AZE 2254 Zusana Borosova SVK 2256 Narmin Kazimova AZE 2321 (Yah, Narmin!) Anastasia Bodnaruk RUS 2294 Zoja Severiukhina RUS 2296 Guliskan Nakhbayeva KAZ 2297 Tatev Abrahamyan USA 2266 (Yah, Tatev!) Adriana Nikolova BUL 2269 Nafisa Muminova UZB 2261 Homa Hour Alavi IRI 2266 Sona Pertlova CZE 2256

World Juniors Chess Championship (Girls)

The results are in! Here are the top results for the final round: 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 10 ½ - ½ 8 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 2 WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 8 1 - 0 9 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 3 WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND 8 1 - 0 8½ WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 4 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 8 1 - 0 8 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 5 WFM BODNARUK Anastasia 2394 RUS 7½ 1 - 0 7½ WFM SGIRCEA Silvia-Raluca 2167 ROU 6 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 7½ 0 - 1 7½ WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 7 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 7½ 1 - 0 7½ GUO Qi 2048 CHN 8 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 7 1 - 0 7 ALAVI Hour Homa 1723 IRI 9 WIM NADIG Kruttika 2241 IND 7 1 - 0 7 WGM CORKE Anya 2255 HKG 10 WIM YILDIZ Betül Cemre 2236 TUR 7 ½ - ½ 7 MUMINOVA Nafisa 2242 UZB 11 ISGANDAROVA Khayala 2207 AZE 6½ 0 - 1 6½ WGM FOISOR Sabina-Francesca 2337 ROU 12 WIM HAMRAKULOVA Yulduz 2145 UZB 6½ ½ - ½ 6½ WIM MAJDAN Joanna 2323 POL 13 WIM DAULYTE Deimante 2288 LTU 6½ 1 - 0 6½ WIM IVAKHINOVA Inna 2248 RUS 14 MISOVIC Sanja 1914 MNE 6½ 0 - 1 6½ WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA Here are the top final standings: Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts 1 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 10½ 2-5 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 9 31 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 9 7 WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND 9 14 WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 9 6-10 18 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 8½ 12 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 8½ 4 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 8½ 38 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 8½ 3 WFM BODNARUK Anastasia 2394 RUS 8½ 11-13 10 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 8 8 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 8 25 WIM NADIG Kruttika 2241 IND 8 14-23 33 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 7½ 13 WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA 7½ 23 WFM NIKOLOVA Adriana 2242 BUL 7½ 48 GUO Qi 2048 CHN 7½ 24 MUMINOVA Nafisa 2242 UZB 7½ 26 WIM YILDIZ Betül Cemre 2236 TUR 7½ 5 WGM FOISOR Sabina-Francesca 2337 ROU 7½ 16 WIM POURKASHIYAN Atousa 2269 IRI 7½ 11 WIM DAULYTE Deimante 2288 LTU 7½ 34 WFM SGIRCEA Silvia-Raluca 2167 ROU 7½ Congratulations to all of the chess femmes! The Indian women are proving a power house. Dronavalli ran away with the event this year with 10.5, good for her! Mary Ann Gomes played excellently in the second half and finished in 4th place with 9.0! Tatev Abrahamyan won her final game and finished in 15th place with 7.5 - a score achieved by several players. Narmin Kazimova was impressive, finishing in 9th place with 8.5 after a final round victory and picking up 45 ratings points. If she had not run into the buzz saw named Dronavalli, she would probably have finished much higher; but actually, 9th in the world juniors girls is an amazing achievement for a player who has not had much international exposure. (Well, she did mix it up with the elite women in the European Individual World Chess Championship earlier this year - valuable experience). Special congratulations to Kubra Ozturk who wins the bronze medal for her home country, host of this year's World Junior Championships. The hype surrounding Ozturk in the Turkish press has been justified (she picked up 57 ratings points for her performance) - but she's not a player who has been much on the chess radar. It's great to see that Turkey has stepped forward and has hosted some excellent events over the past couple of years, raising it's profile as part of the continental European chess scene. In the World Juniors, WGM Hou Yifan finished in 6th place with 9.0, behind winner GM Gupta Abhijeet (IND 2551), with 10.0. Yifan gains 19 ELO ratings points, a performance rating of 2661 and her second GM norm.

World Juniors Chess Championship (Girls)

See the news story in the prior post below! Here are the top results for the chess femmes in Round 12: 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 9 1 - 0 7½ KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 8½ ½ - ½ 7 WFM BODNARUK Anastasia 2394 RUS 3 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 7½ ½ - ½ 8 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 4 WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 7 1 - 0 7½ WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 5 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 7 1 - 0 7 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 6 ALAVI Hour Homa 1723 IRI 7 0 - 1 7 WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND Here are the top standings after Round 12: Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts Fide Rtg+/- Ra Rp 1 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 10 66 8 2244 2517 2 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 9 63 9 2273 2466 3 18 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 8½ 58½ 35 2245 2403 4 31 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 8 54 48 2304 2354 5 10 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 8 52½ 14 2224 2349 6 7 WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND 8 51 7 2215 2320 7 4 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 8 48½ -6 2217 2342 8 14 WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 8 44½ 5 2166 2274 9 33 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 7½ 56 36 2267 2290 10 12 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 7½ 49½ -2 2178 2256 11 38 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 7½ ½ 39 2217 2311 48 GUO Qi 2048 CHN 7½ 47½ 60 2271 2336 13 3 WFM BODNARUK Anastasia 2394 RUS 7½ 44½ -18 2209 2231 14 34 WFM SGIRCEA Silvia-Raluca 2167 ROU 7½ 40 0 2088 2116 The 1, 2 and 3 spots remained the same - but there are several players who are gunning for that 3rd spot. Narmin Kazimova dropped from 6th place to 11th place after losing to Dronavalli - well, I knew she'd had a tough match-up but to put her up against the #1? Wow! Turkey's WFM Tubra Ozturk is having a great tournament and rebounded after her loss to Dronavalli. Can Kazimova do the same tomorrow? India has 3 players in the top 10. Other than one lone player in the Junior Girls, Guo Chi (#12 currently), I guess the Chinese put all their money on Hou Yifan, about whom Susan Polgar wrote about earlier today will become a GM by virtue of her results in the Juniors Tournament. Nothing wrong with promoting Hou Yifan, of course, but since it seems the Chinese are intent on nothing less than TOTAL DOMINATION of all forms of sport, why the chintzy response to the World Juniors? Perhaps they spent all their allowance this quarter on the Olympics... Hou Yifan is in 7th place with 8.0 after 12 rounds, and a performance rating of 2641. Thus far, she's gained 14 ELO points on her rating of 2557, which would not be enough to push her up to 2600 needed to qualify for that GM title she will earn her third and final norm form in this event. How did our girl Tatev Abrahamyan do? WFM SGIRCEA Silvia-Raluca 2167 ROU 6½ 1 - 0 6½ WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA As a result of this loss, Tatev fell to 21st place. Keep your eye on this young lady, she's got the goods. The problem is, she's playing in the USA, and we don't support our chessplayers and certainly don't provide them with anything approaching a living should they choose to attempt to do so playing chess on a full-time basis. And chess is a jealous mistress - she doesn't countenance less than full devotion. That's why the USA usually loses it's most promising young players to the mundane reality of having to earn a living in the real world! Okay, enough editorializing for the day. I've got a casserole calling my name...

Dronavalli Wins World Juniors (Girls)

Ohmygoddess! They parired Narmin Kazimova against Harika Dronavalli! From sports.indiatimes.com Harika wins World Junior Chess; Chance for an Indian double GAZIANTEP (Turkey), August 14: Top seeded International Master India's D Harika proved her top billing right by winning the World Junior Girls Chess Championship with one round to spare after beating Narmin Kazimova of Azerbaijan in the 12th and penultimate round. Harika took her tally to an unassailable 10 points out of a possible 12 and steered a full point clear of Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine who was held to a draw by Anastasia Bodnaruk of Russia. It implies that, with her better progressive score, Harika is assured of the title with one round still to come in the premier junior event for girls. Harika is the second Indian girl ever to win the Junior World champion title after Koneru Humpy in 2001. Harika had won the 2006 World under-18 girls title and was plain unlucky not to win this title last year when she lost the last three rounds after being in lead. Harika had to work hard in the final round game against Narmin Kazimova as the latter played cautiously for the major part of the game. Starting off with English open as Harika established a minimal advantage and later liquidated to a better rook and pawns endgame. Kazimova lost a pawn first and when it became a race between passed pawns, Harika's forces were more adequately deployed. For the records, the game lasted 68 moves. While the 20 member Indian contingent rejoiced at Harika's brilliant show, there was more good news coming in as Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta grinded overnight leader Arik Braun of Germany in the open section and jumped in to joint lead along with compatriot Parimarjan Negi and David Howell of England. With all these three leaders on 9 points, it is clear that the winner will be amongst these three only which gives a chance for an Indian double in the championships organized simultaneously. It was a fine effort by Abhijeet with white pieces in a Slav defense game. Getting an interesting endgame, the Indian junior champion outclassed Braun after winning a rook for knight. Parimarjan also displayed top form in defeating Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam in a French defense game while Howell won a long drawn affair against second seed Maxim Rodshtein of Israel.

World Juniors Chess Championship (Girls)

Round 11 has finished. Hold on to your hats! Results (top chess femmes): 1 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 7 0 - 1 8 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 2 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 6½ ½ - ½ 8 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 3 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 7½ ½ - ½ 6½ WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 4 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 6½ 1 - 0 7½ WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 5 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 6½ 1 - 0 6½ WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 6 WFM BODNARUK Anastasia 2394 RUS 6 1 - 0 6 WGM CORKE Anya 2255 HKG 7 WGM FOISOR Sabina-Francesca 2337 ROU 6 ½ - ½ 6 WFM NIKOLOVA Adriana 2242 BUL 8 WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND 6 1 - 0 6 WFM BOROSOVA Zuzana 2254 SVK 9 WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA 6 ½ - ½ 6 GUO Qi 2048 CHN 10 WIM DAULETOVA Gulmira 2267 KAZ 6 0 - 1 6 WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 11 ALAVI Hour Homa 1723 IRI 6 1 - 0 5½ WFM HOOLT Sarah 2298 GER Dronavalli is back on top at 9.0 after having dispatched Ozturk, who was having an excellent tournament :) Tatev Abrahamyan moved to 6.5 after a draw with Guo Qi. And Narmin Kazimova is having another one of those streaks where she can do no wrong! She won today, to go to 7.5 points and - well - you'll see: Here are the top standings after Round 11: Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts Fide Rtg+/- Ra Rp 1 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 9 56 6 2252 2514 2 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 8½ 54 9 2262 2473 3 18 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 8 50 34 2241 2416 4 33 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 7½ 48½ 41 2266 2320 5 10 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 7½ 44½ 15 2221 2354 6 38 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 7½ 40 42 2194 2327 7 31 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 7 46 37 2301 2321 8 7 WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND 7 43 5 2238 2340 9 8 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 7 42 6 2223 2325 10 4 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 7 40½ -12 2209 2311 11 3 WFM BODNARUK Anastasia 2394 RUS 7 37 -18 2191 2213 60 ALAVI Hour Homa 1723 IRI 7 37 87 2073 2327 13 14 WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 7 36½ 0 2166 2249 14 13 WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA 6½ 47½ 7 2240 2305 1-2-3 stay the same as they've been for the past three rounds. Tatev Abrahamyan's draw today did not prevent her from dropping lower in the standings - from 11th yesterday to 14th today. Tatev is at the top of a large group of players with 6.5 points. And Narmin - she's jumped from 10th yesterday to 6th today, with 2 games to go! Go Narmin! She will probably have her hands full tomorrow, as I expect she'll be matched with one of the players above her - not a pleasant prospect. There were 9 draws today, up from yesterday's 4. That left 24 decisive matches.

World Juniors Chess Championship (Girls)

You know it's getting serious when only 4 games were drawn out of 33 today, in Round 10. Three more rounds to go. Here are the top results: 1 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 7 ½ - ½ 7½ IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 7 1 - 0 6½ WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 3 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 6½ 1 - 0 6 WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA 4 WFM NIKOLOVA Adriana 2242 BUL 6 0 - 1 6 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 5 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 5½ 1 - 0 6 GUO Qi 2048 CHN 6 WFM BOROSOVA Zuzana 2254 SVK 5½ ½ - ½ 5½ WGM FOISOR Sabina-Francesca 2337 ROU 7 PREETHI Rajkumar 2183 IND 5½ 0 - 1 5½ WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 8 WFM HOOLT Sarah 2298 GER 5½ 0 - 1 5½ KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 9 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 5½ 1 - 0 5½ WIM NADIG Kruttika 2241 IND 10 WGM CORKE Anya 2255 HKG 5 1 - 0 5½ WFM PERTLOVA Sona 2217 CZE As you can see, Dronavalli drew her game with Mikadze (a player who snuck up into the top 3 without seeming to draw any attention at all!), so she stands at 8 points of 10. Meanwhile, Maria Muzychuk (younger sister of Anna) defeated Swaminathan of India, and with the full point she is now in a tie-score with Dronavalli! The sole American, Tatev Abrahamyan, can't seem to get unstuck from 6 points, losing her game, while young Narmin Kazimova won her game behind the black pieces against a player rated 150 points higher! Way to go, Narmin! Here are the top standings after Round 10: Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts Fide Rtg+/- Ra Rp 1 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 8 47 5 2259 2499 2 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 8 45½ 10 2259 2499 3 18 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 7½ 42 32 2228 2421 4 33 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 7½ 41 49 2279 2384 5 31 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 7 39 40 2283 2344 6 10 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 6½ 37 7 2214 2324 7 12 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 6½ 35½ -1 2161 2250 8 8 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 6½ 35 3 2204 2314 9 4 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 6½ 33½ -9 2205 2315 10 38 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 6½ 32½ 34 2197 2306 11 13 WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA 6 41 11 2259 2331 Playing in the Juniors, Hou Yifan has slipped to 13th after drawing her Round 10 game today. She was defeated yesterday by IM Arik Braun and currently has 6.5 points. The sole juniors leader is GM Maxim Rodshtein with 8.0. Barring a complete collapse at the top, Hou won't be able to medal, but I'm sure she wants to pull herself into at least the top 10 and will be going no holds barred for the last 3 games.

World Juniors Chess Championship (Girls)

Girls' results after Round 9: Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts Fide Rtg+/- Ra Rp 1 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 7½ 39 7 2259 2532 2 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 7 37½ 7 2255 2475 3 18 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 7 34½ 28 2202 2422 4 33 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 6½ 33½ 40 2280 2348 5 10 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 6½ 30½ 12 2192 2358 6 13 WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA 6 35 21 2269 2394 7 23 WFM NIKOLOVA Adriana 2242 BUL 6 32 18 2211 2336 31 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 6 32 31 2289 2315 9 48 GUO Qi 2048 CHN 6 27½ 46 2258 2353 10 32 PREETHI Rajkumar 2183 IND 5½ 30 16 2234 2221 11 25 WIM NADIG Kruttika 2241 IND 5½ 29½ 16 2239 2308 12 9 WFM HOOLT Sarah 2298 GER 5½ 29 -2 2203 2283 12 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 5½ 29 -7 2152 2208 27 WFM PERTLOVA Sona 2217 CZE 5½ 29 24 2264 2323 15 8 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 5½ 28½ -2 2206 2286 16 21 WFM BOROSOVA Zuzana 2254 SVK 5½ 27½ 0 2167 2247 17 4 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 5½ 27 -11 2222 2302 18 38 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 5½ 26 23 2185 2265 19 5 WGM FOISOR Sabina-Francesca 2337 ROU 5½ 25 -18 2150 2230 I just can't see that Dronavalli is going to give up her lead - consider her the gold medal winner. So - the fight is for silver and bronze. Dronavalli drew with countrywoman WIM Soumya Swaminathan (IND 2293) (I don't know if her name should be reversed - I should check that, but I'm just too tired tonight). The early leader, USA's Tatev Abrahamyan, fell down to 9th after Round 8 (eek!), but has bounced back to 6th place after her defeat today of WIM Inna Ivakhinova (RUS 2248), and is still in the medal hunt. Go, Tatev, go! Narmin Kazimova (AZE 2148) has moved up in the standings to 18th place, after drawing with fellow countrywoman WGM Turkan Mamedjarova (AZE 2284). Only four more rounds to go!

Harika Dronavalli Leads World Juniors Girls

Article from Press Trust of India: Harika beats Nakhbayeva, takes sole lead in World Jr Chess From Our Chess Correspondent Gaziantep (Turkey), Aug 9 (PTI) Top seeded International Master India's Dronavalli Harika today scored a clinical victory over Guliskhan Nakhbayeva of Kazakhstan to emerge as the sole leader after the 7th round of ongoing World Junior Girls' Chess Championship here. Playing the white side of a Nimzo Indian defense, Harika attained a slight advantage out of the opening and nurtured her position well enough to knock down one black pawn before tightening the noose. Guliskhan did not have answers of the precise technical display and called it a day when she was about to lose the second pawn too. The victory helped Harika take her tally to 6 points out of a possible 7 and she now enjoys a half point lead over nearest rivals Adriana Nikolova of Bulgaria and Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine. Amongst the other Indian girls in the fray, only Soumya Swaminathan scored a victory and inched herself up to 5 points at the expense of compatriot Kruttika Nadig. Soumya won with black pieces. Also reaching 5 points with her cool display was R Preethi, who held erstwhile sole leader Tatev Abrahamyan to a draw in a rook and pawns endgame. Top chess femme standings after 7 rounds. USA's Tatev Abrahamyan is in 4th place with 5.0, leading a pack of several chess femmes also with 5.0.

2008 World Juniors Chess Championship (Girls)

Rank after round 7 Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts Fide Rtg+/- Ra Rp 1 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 6 24½ 7 2256 2565 2 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 5½ 24 8 2276 2506 3 23 WFM NIKOLOVA Adriana 2242 BUL 5½ 20½ 26 2198 2428 4 13 WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA 5 24 21 2268 2426 5 18 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 5 21½ 14 2191 2349 6 31 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 5 21 24 2262 2297 33 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 5 21 25 2250 2287 8 6 WIM MAJDAN Joanna 2323 POL 5 20 6 2204 2362 9 32 PREETHI Rajkumar 2183 IND 5 19½ 21 2229 2268 10 12 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 5 18½ 3 2131 2259 11 10 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 5 18 2 2142 2300 Those are the top players with 5 to 6 points, battling for the top 3 spots. Dronavalli has the sole lead now after winning her Round 7 game and she's going to be very difficult to knock out of the top spot, having garnered tons of international experience against tough fields during the past year, and playing particularly fine chess since January of this year in major events. How is Narmin Kazimova doing? Right now she's in 25th place with 4 points, a more than respectable showing after 6 rounds against the toughest competition she's likely to face anywhere in the world. Narmin came to my attention by way of her perfomance in the European Women's Individual Championships earlier this year. India's Mary Ann Gomes, Padmini Rout and Nadig Kruttika are in 19th, 20th places, respectively, also with 4 points. There are 9 players from Turkey, which isn't surprising to me since the event is being hosted in Turkey; on the other hand, I saw only one US player, Tatev Abrahamyan (go, Tatev!) India has 6 players and they're all in the top 21 (2 in the top 10)! Play is half over; tomorrow is a free day and then the second half begins on August 10th. There are a total of 13 rounds, and from the looks of things it will be a tight race all the way to the end. In the juniors (guys) section, Hou Yifan is hanging tough in 5th place with 5.5 after Round 7.

2008 World Junior Chess Championship (Girls)

Standings after Round 4: Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts Fide 1 13 WFM ABRAHAMYAN Tatev 2277 USA 4 10 2 1 IM HARIKA Dronavalli 2461 IND 3½ 9½ 2 WGM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2413 UKR 3½ 9½ 4 17 WIM DAULETOVA Gulmira 2267 KAZ 3½ 9 5 7 WIM GOMES Mary Ann 2316 IND 3½ 8½ 6 18 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2258 GEO 3 8½ 29 ISGANDAROVA Khayala 2207 AZE 3 8½ 31 WFM OZTURK Kubra 2188 TUR 3 8½ 9 19 WIM PADMINI Rout 2257 IND 3 8 24 MUMINOVA Nafisa 2242 UZB 3 8 11 22 WIM IVAKHINOVA Inna 2248 RUS 3 7½ 12 9 WFM HOOLT Sarah 2298 GER 3 7 23 WFM NIKOLOVA Adriana 2242 BUL 3 7 33 WFM NAKHBAYEVA Guliskhan 2170 KAZ 3 7 15 6 WIM MAJDAN Joanna 2323 POL 2½ 8 30 WFM LEKS Hanna 2198 POL 2½ 8 17 25 WIM NADIG Kruttika 2241 IND 2½ 7½ 26 WIM YILDIZ Betül Cemre 2236 TUR 2½ 7½ 27 WFM PERTLOVA Sona 2217 CZE 2½ 7½ 20 4 WGM NEMCOVA Katerina 2372 CZE 2½ 6½ 12 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 2½ 6½ 15 WIM TSATSALASHVILI Keti 2271 GEO 2½ 6½ 16 WIM POURKASHIYAN Atousa 2269 IRI 2½ 6½ 21 WFM BOROSOVA Zuzana 2254 SVK 2½ 6½ 32 PREETHI Rajkumar 2183 IND 2½ 6½ 26 11 WIM DAULYTE Deimante 2288 LTU 2½ 6 27 47 KALASHYAN Varduhi 2049 ARM 2½ 5½ 28 48 GUO Qi 2048 CHN 2½ 5 29 38 KAZIMOVA Narmin 2148 AZE 2½ 4½ 30 8 WFM SEVERIUKHINA Zoja 2300 RUS 2 6½ 31 10 WIM SOUMYA Swaminathan 2293 IND 2 6 28 WFM GASIK Anna 2211 POL 2 6 33 5 WGM FOISOR Sabina-Francesca 2337 ROU 2 5½ 34 34 WFM SGIRCEA Silvia-Raluca 2167 ROU 2 5 60 ALAVI Hour Homa 1723 IRI 2 5 36 45 IKONOMOPOULOU Maria 2074 GRE 2 4½ 37 40 WFM TJOLSEN Katrine 2121 NOR 2 4 41 WFM ERIC Jovena 2111 SRB 2 4 46 MIDDELVELD Martine 2073 NED 2 4 49 WFM CHIERICI Marianna 2037 ITA 2 4 51 ALBANO Jeremias Bianca 1990 POR 2 4 52 HEGARTY Sarah 1966 ENG 2 4 43 42 WFM BERKE Ana 2100 CRO 2 3½ 44 43 WFM SHAMIMA Akter 2099 BAN 2 3 45 14 WFM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2277 GEO 1½ 5 37 WFM KLIMETS Elena 2150 BLR 1½ 5 47 3 WFM BODNARUK Anastasia 2394 RUS 1½ 4 48 35 WFM DAVLETBAYEVA Madina 2155 KAZ 1½ 2½ 49 44 WFM EFROIMSKI Marsel 2091 ISR 1½ 2 63 KAYA Sena Nur 1529 TUR 1½ 2 51 20 WGM CORKE Anya 2255 HKG 1 4 52 36 WFM TOTH Sarolta 2151 HUN 1 3 39 WIM HAMRAKULOVA Yulduz 2145 UZB 1 3 50 WFM BAYRAK Asli 2013 TUR 1 3 53 WFM WIID Daleen 1931 RSA 1 3 61 ANTON Sarah 1681 AUS 1 3 57 54 ACAR Gizem 1931 TUR 1 2½ 56 MISOVIC Sanja 1914 MNE 1 2½ 59 55 BUKOVEC Tina 1929 SLO 1 2 57 BOYARCHENKO Marie 1895 LUX 1 2 58 ANTONOVA Nadezhda 1883 TJK 1 2 62 KARAYAYLALI Pinar 1597 TUR 1 2 63 65 DAI Irmak 0 TUR 1 1 67 OZMUT Perinisa 0 TUR 1 1 65 59 GARCIA Liria Caetano 1792 BRA ½ 1½ 66 64 BOSNJAK Antonija 0 BIH 0 0 66 KAYA Saadet 0 TUR 0 0 68 SALATIC Milica 0 BIH 0 0