Chandran, Aarthie eye IM, WGM titles

Much is at stake for P Magesh Chandran and double Woman Grandmaster-norm holder Aarthie Ramaswamy, who both know they will have to maintain their good run in Athens at the World Junior chess championship if they are to gain their International Master and Woman Grandmaster norms respectively.

The battle for supremacy resumes after a rest day with Aarthie sitting pretty with an impressive 4.5 points from six outings. The leader is Woman FIDE Master Kosintseva Nadezhda of Russia with 5.5 points, and two players follow her on five points. Aarthie is in the next slot, jointly with three others.

A former under-18 world champion, Aarthie made a strong comeback in the championship and has been at her tactical best in most of the games so far.

A WGM norm from here would mean that Aarthie will get the coveted WGM title which only two players -- S Vijayalakshmi and Koneru Humpy - have in the Indian subcontinent.

In the next round, Aarthie will take on fourth seed Woman International Master Paehtz Elisabeth of Germany. Aarthie's performance rating so far has been 2396 and all she needs is consistency to realise her long cherished dream.

The let down from the Indian perspective has been two-time world age group champion and men's GM norm holder Koneru Humpy, who is on four points, after slipping from a fantastic 3/3 start.

A loss and two draws have put her way behind the leader. She is one player who believes in making things happen and it is time she regrouped and got back to her winning ways.

Asian junior champion M Kasturi was a slow starter but has picked up well to reach four points. She gave an excellent display to beat S Meenakshi in the previous round and will play against Humpy in the next.

IWM S Meenakshi has been impressive in patches. It seems she has been struggling with her form here. Meenakshi has accumulated three points so far and though her victories were quite brilliant, her losses have presented a sorry picture as she lost a couple of games without a real fight.

Among the Indian boys, Chandran has been the find of the tournament. The ease with which he has tackled much stronger opposition here has earned him a lot of praise and he looks like the one to be watched out in the future.

At almost the half-way stage, Chandran is in joint ninth spot with a performance rating of 2544, 205 points more than his actual FIDE rating. Depending upon the opposition, Chandran needs two draws in the next two rounds to earn his maiden IM norm.

In the eighth round, Chandran will meet IM Roiz Michael of Israel.

IM Tejas Bakre is on 3.5 points and will have to work hard to regain his lost ELO points so far in the tournament. M R Venkatesh and K Rathnakaran have done well against stronger opposition.