It is either the seeds are just not solid enough or the lesser-rated players are proving to be more dynamic. The reasons may vary but the results don't! For, the results have been pretty consistent in favour of the lesser-rated players in the ongoing Asian Junior chess championship at the Goregaon Sports Club here.
After the completion of the third round, three players — Vishnu Prasanna (ranked 14th), T Purushothaman (18th) and Snehal Bhosale (33rd) — were sharing the lead with three points each. Incidentally, neither of them is titled nor the favourites before the start of the event.
Prasanna was the best player on display as he upset third seed IM Javad Sayed Alavi of Iran in an engrossing game while Purushothaman upset fifth seed IM S P Sethuraman. Snehal, rated 2024, shocked ninth seed Aditya Udeshi. Parimarjan Negi, the top seed and the lone GM in fray, put behind Frida's loss to post a facile victory over Nikhik Kamat.
The upsets continued in the girls' section also with sixth seed Krutika Nadig defeating Kiran Manisha Mohanty. Reigning champion Mary Ann Gomes shot into sole lead with a thumping victory over Soumya Swaminathan. Both were crucial encounters as Soumya and Kiran Manisha have qualified to represent India in the Chess Olympiad scheduled next year. Top seed Atousa Porkashiyan of Iran defeated P Priya to share to the tied second spot with Krutika and Padmini Rout on 2.5 points.
Prasanna handled the Sicilian Defence rather well and enjoyed an edge from the opening stages against Alavi. The position kept getting difficult for the Iranian IM and he had to part with a bishop and knight for a rook in an attempt to do some damage control. However, Prasanna was in total command and had his bishop battery mopping up the game after 47 moves.
Purushothaman, who defeated Negi on Saturday, was the cynosure on Saturday in a Queen-Pawn Opening against Sethuraman. The Andhra boy was impressive for the second day running, scoring a morale boosting victory.
Results (Round 3):
Javad Sayed Alavi (2) lt to Vishnu Prasanna (3); P Karthikeyan (2.5) drew Deep Sengupta (2.5); S P Sethuram (2) lt to T Purshothaman (3); Aditya Udeshi (2) lt to Snehal Bhosale (3); Shyam Sundar (2.5) drew M R Lalith Babu (2.5); Rakesh Kulkarni (2) lt to S Nitin (2.5); Bitan Bannerjee (1.5) lt to B Adhiban (2.5); Parimarjan Negi (2) bt Nikhil Kamat (1); Abhishek Kelkar (1) lt to Ashwin Jayram (2); Shreyans Shah (1.5) drew Akshat Khamparia (1.5).
Girls: Soumya Swaminathan (2) lt to Mary Ann Gomes (3); Atousa Pourkashiyan (2.5) bt P Priya (1.5); Krutika Nadig (2.5) bt Kiran Manisha Mohanty (1.5); Padmini Rout (2.5) bt Mitali Madhukar Patil (1.5); P Shivashankari (1) lt to S Harini (2); Shamima Liza Akter (2) bt P Uthra (1); Priya Mohana (1) lt to Pon Krithika (1.5); Tara Rahimi (1.5) bt Sonakshi Rathore (0); Y J Sriharika (0.5) drew Bhakti Juikar (0.5).