CHENNAI: International Master Ashwin Jayaram of India won the Asian junior title after playing out an exciting draw in the ninth and final round against FIDE Master Vidit Santosh Gujrathi in the Sai Ram Engineering College Asian Junior Chess Championship 2008 at Hotel Vijay Park here on Sunday.
WGM Mary Ann Gomes (7.5 points) of India retained her Asian junior girls title with a draw against WIM Padmini Rout in the final round. Needing just a draw to emerge a clear winner, Mary split the point after 31 moves.
In the much awaited top board game in the boys section, Vidit crossed swords with Ashwin. The young Maharashtra boy tried to snatch the initiative with unorthodox play. But Ashwin was upto the task, as he sacrificed his rook for Vidit’s bishop, and seized control of play. An exchange down but with a two pawn plus position, Ashwin forced Vidit to split points after 54 moves.
Ashwin and MR Lalith Babu finished on the top of leaderboard, but a better tie-break gave Ashwin the title. The Asian junior title fetches Ashwin a ninegame GM norm.
Lalith Babu, who finished second, will be awarded International Master title. Lalith Babu coasting to a facile victory in 35 moves over Rahul Sangma in the final round. World champion Viswanathan Anand gave away the prizes.
Final Standings (Boys): 1-2: Ashwin Jayaram, MR Lalith Babu 7.5 points, 3-4: B Adhiban, Vidit Gujrathi 7, 5-6: S Nitin, P Shyam Nikhil 6.5, 7-10: V Vishnu Prasanna, Rahul Sangma, P Karthikeyan, T Ravichandran 6.
Girls: 1. Mary Ann Gomes 7.5, 2-3: Kruttika Nadig, Bhakthi Kulkarni 7, 4-5: Padmini Rout, P Sivasankari 6, 6-9: Shalmali Gagare, N Raghavi, Kiran Monisha Mohanty, R Preethi 5.5, 10 R Bharathi 5.
Results (9th round): Boys: Vidit Gujrathidrew with Ashwin Jayaram, Lalith Babu bt Rahul Sangma, Vishnu Prasanna lost to Adhiban, Nitin bt Navin Kanna, Priyadharshan lost to Shyam Nikhi, Sethuraman drew with Shyam Sundar, Akshat Khmaparia lost to Deep Sengupta, Ramnath Bhuvanesh lost to P Karthikeyan, Swapnil Dhopade drew with Debashis Das, Saravana Krishnan lost to Ravichandran.
Girls: Mary Ann Gomes drew with Padmini Rout, P Sivasankari lost to Kruttika Nadig, Bhakthi Kulkarni bt R Bharathi, Shalmali Gagare drew with Raghavi, Shristi Shetty lost to Kiran Monisha Mohanty, S Harini lost to R Preethi, Apurva drew with Ch Divyasri.
