World Youth 01-03: Bhavik Bharambe leads the Indian charge

by Priyadarshan Banjan - 24/09/2016

2015 World Youth Championship was a medal feast for Team India. It was raining Golds, Silvers, and Bronze, and the domination was such that India had won more Golds than most teams had even won medals! A year has passed since then, and there was a marked change in the organisation of the 2016 edition -- the under 14, under 16 and under 18 sections are being held separately from the other sections that will be held in Georgia next month. Enjoy our heavily illustrated report!

World Youth 01-03: Bhavik Bharambe leads the Indian charge

The head coach of the Russian Junior team said, "Hopefully, the Russian soil will help us break the longstanding Indian dominance." What better proof do you need to grasp that India has a good chance this year as well, although most of the time, we score medals in the lower age-category sections.

The 2016 edition of the World Youth Championship was kicked off at Khanty Mansysik's Ugra Chess Club

Open Under-14

Bhavik Bharambe (2104) [Photo: Lakshmi Priyaa TT]

Bhavik Bharambe is off to a perfect start with 3.0/3, the only Indian with a perfect score across all the categories. his thrid round game was quite smooth...

[Event "WYCC2016"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"]
[Date "2016.09.24"]
[Round "3.16"]
[White "Bharambe Bhavik C (IND)"]
[Black "Stoleriu George (ROU)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A90"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[WhiteClock "0:59:45"]
[BlackClock "0:33:17"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Bb4+ 5. Nc3 O-O 6. Nh3 Qe7 7. Nf4 d6 8. O-O
c6 9. Qb3 Bxc3 10. bxc3 Kh8 11. Ba3 Na6 12. Rfd1 Rb8 13. Rab1 Bd7 14. Nd3 Be8
15. c5 d5 16. Bc1 Nh5 17. Qa3 Bg6 18. Rb2 Ra8 19. Ne5 Rfb8 20. h3 Be8 21. g4
Nf6 22. Bf4 Nc7 23. Qa4 Nb5 24. Qc2 fxg4 25. hxg4 Nc7 26. Rdb1 Nb5 27. Rb3 a5
28. a4 Na7 29. Qb2 Qd8 30. Rxb7 Rc8 31. Qb6 Bg6 32. Nxg6+ hxg6 33. Rxa7 Rxa7
34. Qxa7 Nxg4 35. Rb8 Kh7 36. Rxc8 Qxc8 37. Qxa5 Qf8 38. Bg3 Qf5 39. Bf3 Nf6
40. Qb4 g5 41. Qb2 g4 42. Bg2 Nh5 43. Be5 g3 44. Bxg3 Nxg3 45. fxg3 Qg5 46.
Qb1+ g6 47. Kf2 Qd2 48. Qb4 Qc2 49. a5 Qf5+ 50. Bf3 g5 51. Qb8 g4 52. Qf4 gxf3
53. Qxf5+ exf5 54. Kxf3 1-0

On a more personal note, we would like to point out that Bhavik has always been a talent to reckon with ever since the time he made his debut as a precocious six-year-old boy from Dombivili in Mumbai.

At a tournament in Mumbai in January, Mrs. Shailaja Bharambe, mother of Bhavik, had lamented to the writer about Bhavik's frequent problems in playing big tournaments due to the lack of money. Despite suffering a severe lack of funds to play regularly, Bhavik has managed to reach a level where he can fight for the medals in youth competitions, defeat titled players in Opens, etc. But his talent points to something far greater. There is no doubt that Bhavik Bharambe is Mumbai city's future as far as chess is concerned -- grandmaster and beyond.

The National Under-13 champion, one of Mumbai's best bets to create a 2600 player, needs better treatment. Keeping all this in mind, it is a shame that nobody in Mumbai, the financial capital of India, has cared to sponsor such a precious hope so that he can play strong norm tournaments in India and abroad. Sponsors, administrators, politicians, chess fans, where are you, people? Who will walk the talk?

Another bright hope, Iniyan P. (2368) is struggling at 1.0/3 and one would hope that he will start firing soon. [Photo: Lakshmi Priyaa TT]

Open Under-16

FM Mitrabha Guha (2286) of West Bengal has managed to score 2.0/3. [Photo: Lakshmi Priyaa TT]

Despite being among the higher seeds, IM Raghunandan Srihari has been left far behind at 1.0/3. He sure has some catching up to do.

Open Under-18

IM Krishna Teja N. (2268) is on 2.0/3.

FM Rajdeep Sarkar (2347) is on 1.5/3. [Photo: Lakshmi Priyaa TT]

WIM Vaishali R. (2295) bravely decided to compete in the Open Under-18 section. She has scored 1.5/3 so far. [Photo: Lakshmi Priyaa TT]

Girls Under-14

Priyanka Nutakki (2070) of Andhra Pradesh is on 2.5/3. [Photo: Lakshmi Priyaa TT]

WCM Saina Salonika (2093) of Odisha is also on 2.5/3.

Under-16 Girls

Aakanksha Hagawane (2183) is on 2.5/3. [Photo: Lakshmi Priyaa TT]

Under-18 Girls

Mahalakshmi M. (2221) is on 2.0/3.

Toshali V. (1766) is stuck on 0.5/3.

The Indian coaching staff -- Jayant Suresh Gokhale, Lakshmi Priyaa TT, and Hamnumantha J. [Photo: Lakshmi Priyaa TT]

The playing arena [Photo: Lakshmi Priyaa TT]

Khanty-Manisysk

Khanty-Mansiysk has many museums and theaters. The museum of Nature and Man has a unique collection of exhibit items.

Mammoths are a visit card of Khanty-Mansiysk. The complex consisting of sculptural reconstructions of large mammals that lived in West Siberia in the glacier epoch was erected on an artificial platform, the Samarov Hill reinforcement.

The Ice Palace -- ice-hockey is a famous sport in the city.

The indoor water park

As you’ve probably realized Khanty-Mansiysk is a sport city in which many competitions and the sport events are conducted all the time.

Official Website with pairings and PGN

All photos, unless mentioned, are from the official website.