World Youth Oly.: India is beaten as Iran stamps authority

World Youth Oly.: India is beaten as Iran stamps authority

Team India began the Youth Olympiad with a nagging problem. Coach R.B. Ramesh was in a dilemma as he headed to Poprad in Slovakia as the coach of the Under-16 India team for the World Youth Olympiad 2016. 'Other than Vaishali, I was meeting the other team members for first time in my life, at the Dubai airport en route to the tournament,' he said.

'A captain cum coach could be more effective if he or she knows more about the players beforehand. Initially, I had to spend precious time making out the players' strong and weak points,' recounted Ramesh.

Surely, things could have planned better than this? On to the tournament, who would not love to play chess in similar conditions?

Poprad is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the tenth largest city in Slovakia, with a population of approximately 55,000. (Wikipedia)

India, of course, was not fielding a full-strength team based on ratings, but on the rankings of the National Championships — the top four players from the National U-15 and the winner of Girls U-15. It must be noted that the average rating of the Indian teams at the World Youth Olympiads has been going down over the years. It is not clear yet why we don't send the strongest possible team but make it a compulsion to play the nationals.

India was coasting to a comfortable 3.0-1.0 victory over Belarus, despite a lost position on the first board. Vaishali and Guha were making the regulation move to claim the point. On the second board, Iniyan was clearly better as well. But he lost his chance and the game. India was held by Belarus 2.0-2.0.

Ramesh says, 'As the tournament progressed, I got a better idea about how the players react. There are certain areas which we can learn by observing players directly when they are playing like time management, the level of concentration, how they handle different types of positions, etc. Bonding among young players is usually not an issue. They gel with each other well.'

The plan did not succeed, in any case. India managed to beat Romania, Bulgaria and Canada (in the final round but lost to Russia and Armenia) and was held by Austria to a draw.

On boards two and three, the players had a tough time losing games in contrasting styles. Hope they have learnt more about themselves and will show the resolve to make necessary corrections in their game and approach.

What did the team learn from this experience? Ramesh says: 'Well, I have made it clear to the players their shortcomings in person.  Some of the common issues at this level are — not keeping good concentration level at right moments, time management, opening issues, etc. They need to make the necessary corrections. That doesn't happen unfortunately in most cases. Players tend to carry the burden of their weaknesses throughout their chess career. This doesn't let them reach their full potential.'

Results:

Untitled Parham Magsoodhloo (Live: 2574) led from the front as the younger kids Aryan Gholami , Alireza Firouzja and Arash Tahbaz scored at will, almost, to clinch the title.

Final Standings:

Check the complete standings here.

Impressions:

Official Website

Games in PGN