CHENNAI: Abhimanyu Puranik brought joy to India, bagging a silver medal in the Open section of the World Junior Chess Championship in Gebze, Turkey, on Saturday. Puranik grinded out a victory over higher-ranked Aram Hakobyan in the final round to achieve his career-best result. Parham Maghsoodloo (9.5/11) turned in a scintillating performance to become the first Iranian to win the World Junior title. There was a three-way tie for the second spot between Puranik, Sergei Lobanov and Andrei Esipenko (all 8.5) but the Pune-based youngster took the second spot, thanks to a better tie-break.
Russia’s Lobanov captured the bronze. Puranik’s 3.5/4 spurt in the last four rounds fetched him the medal. He had the satisfaction of toppling second seed Jorden van Foreest and Alireza Firouzja, who is one of Iran’s most talented players, in the seventh and eighth rounds. What stood out in his game was his confidence, risktaking attitude and steely determination. The 18-year-old had a performance rating of 2683 and gained 22.6 rating points. Winning seven games played a crucial part in his success. “It is indeed a great achievement to win a medal in the World Junior. Hopefully, Abhimanyu gets lots of invitations to strong tournaments, thanks to this silver medal,” lauded India GM Baskaran Adhiban on Abhimanyu’s achievement.
He added: “I have been impressed by his recent surge. Many players who won the World Junior went on to become great players like Anand, Mamedyarov and Aronian. He is definitely on the right path.” “Abhimanyu probably played his best-ever chess for this silvermedal winning performance. His finish was impressive. He didn’t fear top names,” was how India GM Sundararajan Kidambi summed up the Indian’s outstanding performance.
Maghsoodloo justified his top billing by winning the tournament with a round to spare. The Iranian’s only blot being his last round loss to Esipenko. His stirring run is probably the best at the World Junior in the last decade. Maghsoodloo started off with five straight wins followed by a draw against his team-mate Firouzja before reeling off another four wins to dominate the event. He had a whopping performance rating of 2823, besides gaining 20.7 rating points from the tournament.
He has made tremendous progress in the last 12 months, winning last year’s Sharjah Masters in emphatic fashion. As a matter of fact, Maghsoodloo recently inspired Iran to victory in the Asian Nations Cup. The 18-yearold has a live rating of 2684.5 and it will not be a surprise if he joins the 2700-club before the end of 2018. “Magsoodhloo was unbelievable. I cannot recall any 9.5/10 in World Junior ever. It’s comparable to Morozevich’s 9.5/10 in Lloyds Bank event. What a fighter! He will surely compete for the top honours in senior chess very soon. “was Kidambi’s candid assessment of Maghsoodloo show in Gebze.
Results: Final Placings: Open: 1 P
Maghsoodloo (IRI) 9.5; 2-4 A Puranik (Ind), S Lobanov, A Esipenko (both Rus) 8.5; 5 A Tabatabaei (IRI) 8. Girls: 1-2 A Maltsevskaya (Rus), G Tokhirjonova (Uzb) 8.5; 3-5 N Khomeriki (Geo), N Nurgali (Kaz), Dordzhieva (Rus) 8.