PANJIM, SEPT 12
Anurag Mhamal (2207) of Goa playing black drew with FIDE Master Girish Koushik (2342) of Karnataka in 115 moves of an irregular d4 pawn opening in the last round of the 36th National Junior Chess Championship in Delhi to tally 8 points and stand 7th in a tough field.
In the 41st move the game had entered the end game with each player having five pawns and a knight. On the 61st move Anurag managed to win a pawn and was eyeing a possible victory. However, Girish won the pawn back on the 81st move and resulted in a draw on the 115th move.
Fourteen-year-old Anurag is Goa’s second highest rated player after Bhakti. He is very talented and is considered by many top coaches of India capable of reaching the highest levels of chess.
The president of Goa Chess Association, Ashesh Keni has expressed hope that a Goan industrialist or company will come forward to sponsor Anurag, so that he can take up chess full time and avail of best coaching.
Anurag now stands a chance of being selected for All-India Chess Federations exposure tour for sub-juniors to international cities.
Omkar Damle of Goa beat Shubham Shukla of Delhi in the last round to stand 95th and Tejas Chari stood 98th with 5.5 points.
The girls sub-junior title was won by P.V. Nandhidha of Tamil Nadu with 9.5 points. Gauri Hadkonkar stood 53rd with 5.5 points out of 11 games and Aishwarya Thorat 78th with 4.5 points.
