Pursuits: Chess

JUST A week after (what you could term) the "World Cadet Championships" in Oropesa in Spain the junior troops were in action again in the World Junior Championships themselves - that is, under 20 - in Calicut in the south west of India in

13-round tournaments which ended on Monday.

Although both the boys' and the girls' tournaments were extremely strong, first place in each was determined with a round to spare. The boys' was won by Darmen Sadvakasov from Kazakhstan, with a sensational 11/13. He was followed by Zhong Zhang from Peking on 10.5 and Hristos Banikas (Greece) and Dao Thien Hai (Vietnam) on 10.

Another Vietnamese player, Hoang Thanh Trang, took gold in the girls' event with an excellent 11/13. She was followed by Iweta Radziewicz (Poland) on 10.5 and 14-year-old Irina Krush, the runaway winner of the recent US Women's Championship, on 10.

Our two representatives in the boys' event, Miroslav Houska and Simon Williams, both scored 6.5/13. The world girls' under-18 champion Ruth Sheldon could hardly have been expected to perform so well again immediately after her success in Oropesa; and after losing in the last round to the silver medallist Radziewicz, she ended up on just 7. Jovanka Houska got 6.

The new World Junior Champion is a fine technician with a penchant for queen endings, of which he won at least two in Calicut. But he can also transmute positional pluses into violent attacking action, as in today's game.

If 9 Qd2 d5 more or less equalises, hence the rather odd 9 Qe2 when if 9... d5? 10 exd5 Nxd5 11 0-0-0 the pin is very nasty. 12 g3 prepared f4 though he changed his mind after Black castled.

Possibly Black could safely win a piece starting 24... hxg6 25 hxg6 axb3 26 cxb3 but Sadvakasov's choice was much safer, and already good for him. After the blunder 32 Nc2? leading to the diagram, Black smashed through. If 33 bxc3 Qb3+ 34 Ka1 Qxc3+ 35 Kb1 Qxc2+ etc.

White: Zhang Zhong

Black: Darmen Sadvakasov

Calicut 1998 - round 7

Sicilian Najdorf

1 e4 c5

2 Nf3 d6

3 d4 cxd4

4 Nxd4 Nf6

5 Nc3 a6

6 Be3 e5

7 Nb3 Be6

8 f3 Nc6

9 Qe2 Na5

10 0-0-0 Nc4

11 Bg5 Be7

12 g3 Rc8

13 h4 0-0

14 g4 b5

15 Bxf6 Bxf6

16 g5 Be7

17 Bh3 Qd7

18 Bg4 Rc6

19 Nd5 Rfc8

20 Rhg1 Bd8

21 Kb1 a5

22 Qg2 Kf8

23 h5 a4

24 g6 fxg6

25 hxg6 h6

26 Na1 Bg5

27 a3 Ne3

28 Nxe3 Bxe3

29 Qh3 Bxg4

30 Rxg4 Kg8

31 c3 Qe6

32 Nc2? (see

diagram) Rxc3!

33 Nxe3 Rxe3

34 Rg3 Qc4

35 Rgg1 Rxa3

36 bxa3 Qc2+

37 Ka1 Qc3+

38 Ka2 Qb3+

39 Ka1 Rc2 0-1