World Junior: Rombaldoni rampage continues with 6.0/6

The SDAT–RAMCO 50th World Junior & 29th Junior Girls Chess Championships 2011 This event is taking place from August 1st to 16th in Chennai, India. It is one of the strongest WJCC ever, featuring over 80 titled players among the juniors and girls. Top seeds in the Open Section are Russian GMs Maxim Matlakov (2632) and Sanan Sjugirov (2629), Spanish GM Ivan Salgado Lopez (2626) and fifteen more GMs. In the Girls' Section there are five WGMs led by Nazi Paikidze (2416, GEO), Anastasia Savina (2398, RUS), Deysi Cori (2376, PER), Olga Girya (2371, RUS) and Rout Padmini (2348, IND).

Round six

Italian IM Axel Rombaldoni continues to impress. On Monday he stylishly put it across Polish Grandmaster Piorun Kacper for his sixth win in a row in the SDAT-RAMCO 50th World Junior & 29th Junior Girls Chess Championships 2011, at Hotel Vijay Park, Chennai. A full point behind Rombaldoni, at 5.0 points were Ter-Sahakyan Samvel, Hovhannisyan Robert ( both Armenia), Huschenbeth Niclas (Germany) and Girish A Koushik (India).

On the top board Rombaldoni (above) showed superior middle game prowess as he outclasses Piorun Kacper of Poland. In a Grünfeld game that lasted 35 moves a series of attacks on the queenside netted the Italian an exchange advantage which he converted with precision. With a rest day scheduled for tomorrow, Rombaldoni appears the player to beat in the second half of the tournament.

Girish Koushik continued to make news for the second day in a row. Today Girish showed that he is a gritty customer with a dogged defence against GM S.P. Sethuraman, finally culling out a crucial full point after 61 moves. A second straight win over a grandmaster gives Girish a good rating platform in the next rounds to come.

In the girls section Russian WGM Olga Girya remained steady on top of the table with 5.5 points, holding the talented Peru girl Deysi T. Cori. A draw in the top board, helps players further down in the points position, to catch up as the race for the top place hots up. The second spot is shared by Deysi, Bulmaga Irina (Romania) and Elena Semenova (Russia) with 5.0 points. Half a point down at 4.5 points are WFM J. Saranya, Gulnar Marfat Qizi Mammadova, Narmin Nizami Qizi Kazimova (both Azerbaijan) and Klaudia Kulon (Poland).

ONGC sponsored J. Saranya (above, being congratulated by chief arbiter R. Anantharam) celebrated her birthday in a grand fashion, defeating favorite Padmini Rout. The win puts Saranya on the top points group, where she ought to meet higher rated title players, which in turn would enhance her woman grandmaster norm chances.

Round 6 Results (Open) (Indians unless specified)
Piorun Kacper(POL) 4.5 lost to Rombaldoni Axel(ITA) 6, Ter-Sahakyan Samvel(ARM) 5 beat Goganov Aleksey (RUS) 4, Hovhannisyan Robert (ARM) 5 beat Stany G A (4), Swayams Mishra (4.5) drew with Swiercz Dariusz (POL) 4.5, Grover Sahaj (3.5) lost to Sjugirov Sanan (RUS) 4.5, Nitin S (3.5) lost to Robson Ray (USA) 4.5, Grandelius Nils (SWE) 4.5 beat Rajesh V A V (3.5), Artemenko Oleg (UZB) 3 lost to Lalith Babu M R (4), Narayanan Srinath (3) lost to Durarbeyli Vasif (AZE) 4, Anwesh Upadhyaya (4) beat Benitez Lozano Javier (Mex) 3.

Round 6 Results (Girls) (Indians unless specified)
Girya Olga (RUS) 5.5 drew with Cori T Deysi (PER) 5, Kazimova Narmin Nizami Qizi (AZE) 4.5 drew with Bulmaga Irina (ROM) 5, Semenova Elena (RUS) 5 beat Tokhirjanova Hulkar (UZB) 4, Nakhbayeva Guliskhan (KAZ) 4 drew with Paikidze Nazi (GEO) 4, J Saranya 4.5 beat Padmini Rout 3.5, Terao Juliana Sayumi (BRA) 3.5 lost to Mammadova Gulnar Marfat Qizi (AZE) 4.5, Ozturk Kubra (TUR) 4 drew with Dogodkina Julia (RUS) 4, Savina Anastasia (RUS) 4 beat Hema Priya N (3).

Top rankings after six rounds: Open – Girls

Who is Axel Rombaldoni?

Axel Rombaldoni was born in Pesaro on March 23, 1992. He was taught to play by his father Andrea, an Italian Master who, when young, was one of the most promising players in the country. But his mother too, Hungarian by origin, is a good player. Axel is the second of five siblings (three boys and two girls), and the entire family plays chess! Axel completed the norms for his IM title in 2009 and the title was ratified by FIDE in January 2010. He has set a record by winning the Italian Junior Championship seven times in a row (starting with Under 10 to Under 16: U10, U12 twice, U14 twice and U16 twice!). A few weeks ago he qualified for the final of the Italian Championship, which will be played in November in the town of Perugia (he qualified last year but was not lucky on that occasion). In spite of his young age he has already won many important Italian Opens.

Photos and information on Rombaldoni provided by Adolivio Capece

Links Official tournament site All games in zipped PGN: Open – Girls A selection of games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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